Productivity isn’t just about working smarter or faster. It’s actually about making you a happier person. Ninety-two percent of employees said that having the right technology to help do their job with greater efficiency actually made them happier in their work. And the real question here is — what’s up with those other 8 percent?Of course, the right tools make your life a better place. So when you’ve got a chance to secure a whole cache of new apps to have your Mac performing at the top of its game, you should jump at the chance.You get nine-count ‘em — nine of those much-needed life hacks in The 2020 Mac Productivity Essentials Bundle, now over 90 percent off their regular prices at only $29.99 for the whole collection.A full third of this bundle includes bedrock apps that any user has to own to create digital content in 2020. PDF is the most universally recognized e-document format in the world, so having a full-service editor like PDF Reader Pro for editing any text, images, style or more in a PDF is vitally important.Meanwhile, the one-two combo of image editor Movavi Photo Editor and vector graphics creator Amadine: The Ultimate Vector Graphics Software for Mac can handle all the work you’d usually need Photoshop, Illustrator or both to accomplish — and without that sky-high monthly subscription fee.As for your desktop operations, another tandem pair — MultiDock App Organizer and WindowSwitcher -- can streamline how you access all your files. Read the rest

I never really thought about what goes into running a curse removal scam.Westside Today:According to the LAPD, Lee operated a psychic reading business in Culver City and met the victim, a Hollywood resident, several years ago. The LAPD says that during an eight-year period, Lee gained the victim’s trust and claimed the victim was afflicted with negative energy that was adversely impacting her life.“Lee ‘verified’ the extent of the curse through a ritual involving eggs, and then required large sums of money to be given to her to further the ‘curse removal work.’ Lee told the victim the money would ultimately be returned to her, but this never occurred,” the LAPD said.Detectives have spoken to two other victims with similar accounts and believe more may exist, according to the department.“These types of scams are more common than one may think and target emotionally, physically and spiritually vulnerable victims. The scams often involve eggs and/or bananas to determine the extent of a curse, and a promise to return any money or valuables the victim may provide the suspect. Victims are often reluctant to report these incidents out of embarrassment and fear of being ostracized and scorned by their friends and family,” the LAPD said Read the rest

The Democratic National Committee has warned state parties that if they delay primary elections after June 9, they'll have their delegates cut. A new memo from the Democratic National Committee panel that handles delegate selection for the presidential nomination warns that states that hastily change the “first determining step” of their own process could be subject to penalties – including a 50% reduction in delegates – if they hold primaries after a June cut-off date. ... The new DNC memo, obtained by the Guardian, was sent to members of the rules and bylaws committee on Wednesday night.“We are working with state parties that need to make adjustments as needed to their delegate selection processes so they can continue without major interruptions,” wrote James Roosevelt and Lorraine Miller, the co-chairs of the rules and bylaws committee, in the memo.The warning, as many have pointed out, favors candidates whose supporters are more likely to ignore warnings to stay home during the coronavirus pandemic. Read the rest

In 1966, the University of Illinois, Motion Picture Service interviewed campus janitors about their work. "To do a really top notch piece of work, you've gotta do more than just dust and sweep -- you've gotta really color it clean." From the description at Archive.org:Shows the detailed steps necessary to achieve a high standard of cleanliness in a public restroom and presents the opinions, attitudes and personal feelings of the men who do the job, giving voice in particular to a janitor in a university building. Director: James W. Hall. Janitor: Hance Nelson.(via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

The world drastically changed in just the last month and a half over COVID-19. But while restaurants have shuttered, schools have closed, toilet paper has become a priceless commodity, and the stock market plummeted at a pace never seen before, none of this fazed the contestants on television's "reality" show Big Brother -- because until just a day or two ago, reality hadn't reached their carefully monitored sets. Here they are on March 14, on Canada's Big Brother, wondering why there wasn't a live audience during their eviction episode:this bit of canadian Big Brother where housemates have no idea why there wasn't a live audience crowd at evictions. this is what has finally tipped me over the edge pic.twitter.com/jqneBgp206— Amitai (@taitoush) March 14, 2020 Apparently, after this clip was shared on Twitter, Big Brother had a change of heart. According to Mashable:On Monday, a couple of days after a clip of Big Brother Canada housemates discussing the lack of a live audience was shared on Twitter, the show released a statement to clarify that contestants have now been "provided a thorough update on the domestic and international status of COVID-19.""In addition to having been in isolation for more than three weeks, the production has a resident doctor who has assessed and determined that no houseguests have exhibited any signs or symptoms related to COVID-19," reads the statement. "In light of the extremely unique situation regarding COVID-19, the houseguests were each provided a letter from home and remain in the Big Brother house at their own will." Read the rest

Here's Last Week Tonight's second episode about the coronavirus. Oliver delivered his talk in a white walled room, with no audience (and no laughter).Image: YouTube Read the rest

South of Moscow, archaeologists have uncovered a giant ring constructed 25,000 years ago from the bones of more than 60 mammoths. According to University of Exeter researcher Alexander Pryor and colleagues, the 12.5 meter ring isn't the remnants of a shelter as it was probably too large to put a roof on at the time. From Science:Although it’s not clear why nomadic hunter-gatherers would have built such a permanent, labor-intensive structure, most scientists assumed they assembled it from mammoth bones because the region had precious few trees during the ice age. So it came as a bit of a surprise when workers at the site sifted out hundreds of bits of (charred pine, evidence that there were trees in the area)...More research, the authors note, is needed to determine whether it served a ritualistic purpose, a practical purpose such as food storage, or both.More: "Mysterious bone circles made from the remains of mammoths reveal clues about Ice Age" (University of Exeter)image: Alex Pryor/University of Exeter News Release Read the rest

High school science teacher Bruce Yeany posits that wiping your hands with a wet soapy washcloth that's been stored in a plastic bag and drying them with a paper towel is an effective way to rid your hands of coronaviruses when ordinary soap-and-water washing in a sink isn't possible. It makes sense to me, but I wouldn't recommend using this method until a virologist or epidemiologist says it works.From the YouTube description:Better than Purell. The reason soap is so effective against viruses is that it tears them apart. Coronavirus, like many other viruses, is held together by a fatty shell, a lipid membrane. Soap, by its molecular nature, strips that protective fat layer away from the virus,Read more here.Alcohol based hand sanitizers are only partially effective, less effective than soap due to;1. the small amounts that are used,2. Alcohol evaporates so quickly that once the liquid is exposed to air, the amount of alcohol is reduced to levels that are not effectiveThis suggestion is not the most convenient, but I've talked and heard from more than one expert that informed me these would will help and may be more effective than the sanitizers or the wipes.These are not meant to be made and stored over long terms. Best suggestion is to refresh or remake them when you get to a chance to wash your hands properly at a sink with running water and soap.Dish soap may also be used.Image: YouTube Read the rest

Butterscotch is a world beatbox champion. Should this video inspire you to give beatboxing a try, consider that now is perhaps not a time to practice a salivary activity like beatboxing, unless you are sure your aerosolized droplets will not come into contact with anyone else. It's better to simply sit back and enjoy a champion show her stuff.Image: YouTube Read the rest

Quotes from Trump about disbanding the US pandemic response team in 2018:2018: “...some of the people we’ve cut they haven’t been used for many, many years and if we ever need them we can get them very quickly and rather then spending the money. I’m a business person, I don’t like having thousands of people around when you don’t need them,” he added.2020: “Well, I just think it’s a nasty question ...You say we did that, I don’t know anything about it.”WATCH: @Yamiche asked the president about a reorganization of the National Security Council that dismantled a key pandemics team in 2018.President Trump: "I just think it's a nasty question... You say we did that, I don't know anything about it." pic.twitter.com/lWo0YKS1rl— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) March 13, 2020Image: Twitter Read the rest

Due to the pandemic bread was in short supply at my local market. I bought a bag of flour. Rather than using active yeast, however, I am starting a new sourdough starter. It is quite easy and takes some time, which I certainly have.Starter Day 1: I put ¾ cup of bleached white AP flour and ½ cup of water in a glass jar. I mixed it up really good and covered with saran wrap.From this day forward I will be adding ½ cup of flour and ½ cup of water each day. I will start discarding around 1 cup of starter, or using it, after the 4th or 5th day.I will update daily with new photos until people are tired of photos of bread. Read the rest

My friend Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie plans to perform daily in his home studio and stream it live on YouTube/Facebook at 4pm PST. And he's taking requests. Thanks Ben! From his announcement:I know you are all freaked out right now. I am, too. And while I’m proud that we’re all doing the necessary things at the moment to help flatten the curve, I know it has left us incredibly isolated...Be it with DCFC, Postal Service, or solo I have always been grateful for the honor you have bestowed upon us by choosing to congregate en masse around our music. Some of you have traveled great distances and/or shelled out large sums of money to see us play and that has never been lost on me. So in this crazy unprecedented time, I’d like to return my favor by coming to you.Tune into https://t.co/mGtxzmvl3A to see Ben livestream for the next few weeks at 4pm PST daily. pic.twitter.com/Llt2syGHvT— Death Cab for Cutie (@dcfc) March 17, 2020 Read the rest

On New Year's Day 1963, two bodies were discovered on an Australian riverbank. Though their identities were quickly determined, weeks of intensive investigation failed to uncover a cause or motive for their deaths. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of the Bogle-Chandler case, which riveted Australia for years.We'll also revisit the Rosenhan study and puzzle over a revealing lighthouse.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon! Read the rest

Behold Stella, exemplifying the canine propensity to barrel headlong into piles of leaves. I’ll just leaf this right here... Stella’s BEST LEAF JUMPS OF ALL TIME! Read the rest

An old Mitchell and Webb skit, contra Voltaire; if you know them, you already know which one it is: "I'm not saying do it. I'm just saying to run it through the computer to see if it would work." Read the rest

With no visitors coming into Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, some of the rockhopper penguins have been given free reign to roam and explore. While Wellington seems really into the Amazon fish tank, Edward and Annie have been using the opportunity to bond together more in anticipation of mating season, according to the Shedd's Facebook page.Whatever they choose to do with their time, I say: fly free, my tuxedo'd comrades.Penguins openly explore Chicago aquarium closed due to Covid-19 [The Guardian] Read the rest

Clearwater beach was packed to the waterline Tuesday, crowded by visitors hoping to make the most of the coronavirus pandemic by contracting it and spreading it to as many other people as possible.Despite pleas from health and government officials asking people to practice social distancing in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, many are ignoring those requests.On Monday, the beaches were still packed in Clearwater, Florida, with spring breakers electing to ignore the public health crisis. Spotlighted in pictures that have quickly gone viral, hundreds of people can be seen partying on the beach like it’s just another day. According to Tampa’s WFTS, Clearwater officials may not vote on whether to close down beaches until Thursday.After all these years, Project Normandy finally has a beach head.BUSY BEACH! This is what @MyClearwater Beach looks like right now as spring break crowds flock to the sand. #Clearwater leaders haven’t decided if they should add a curfew or close beaches but they may vote on measures related to the #coronavirus this Thursday. @abcactionnews pic.twitter.com/jGoxQdYJg5— Sarah J. Hollenbeck (@SarahHollenbeck) March 16, 2020 Read the rest

Warning folks in the past about how spooky (and deadly) COVID-19 is making life for people all around the world would be the best use of a time machine right now if, you know, we actually had one. This video of Italians talking to the person they were, ten days ago, is likely the next best thing.North America is juuuuuuuuust a little ways behind the level of COVID-19 clusterfuck that Italy is currently experiencing. It could get just as bad here as it is there. Wash your hands, constantly. Stay at home. Look after one another. It's going to be a long year.Or two. Read the rest

Matt Ruff is one of science fiction and fantasy's most consistently brilliant and innovative authors, whose recent work includes The Mirage (an incredible alternate history in which the Global War on Terror is kicked off when Christian crusaders from the blighted, tribal USA fly a plane into the United States of Arabia's Twin Towers in Dubai, giving the hawkish CIA chief Osama bin Laden the chance to launch the all-out war he's been champing for), and Lovecraft Country (an anti-racist reimagining of Cthulhu set in Jim Crow America where the real horror is white supremacy -- now being adapted for TV by Jordan Peele). In his new novel, 88 Names, Ruff adds to the canon of MMORPG heist novels (Charlie Stross's Rule 34, Neal Stephenson's Reamde, and my For the Win, to name three) with a unique take that he dubbed "Snow Crash meets The King and I."

There are few experiences that match the sheer raw power of being front and center for a huge rock concert. It can be exhilarating. But without sounding too much like your mom, it can also be far more dangerous than you realize.Hearing damage often happens from exposure to prolonged loud noises over 85 decibels (dB). Rock concerts can hit 115 dB, depending on where you’re standing. And if you’ve ever come away from a show with that muffled ringing sound in your ears for a few hours or maybe even a few days after, that’s tinnitus. While it’s often temporary, it’s also auditory Russian roulette — because the effect can become permanent. And while we’re on the subject, exactly how high do you crank the music on those earbuds?The World Health Organization estimates 1.1 billion 12 to 35-year-olds face irreversible hearing loss as a result of exposure to loud noise. You can avoid becoming a statistic with some foresight and protection like the Eartune Live U Universal Ear Plugs.Eartunes are engineered to retain all the clarity of your music, just at levels about 20 decibels lower than the unfiltered sound. Their proprietary acoustic filters reduce the volume of the world around you, yet modulate the sound waves, maintaining the sound in the medium frequency spectrum while expertly filtering out high and low range noise and distortion that can damage the fine hairs of the ear.In the event that fashion moves you more than preventing hearing loss, the Eartunes are actually so small and unobtrusive that others can hardly tell you’re wearing them. Read the rest

In an effort to stave off boredom during the great quarantine of 2020, our pals over at Chaosium have made their award-winning Call of Cthulhu The Coloring Book available as a free download.They've also announced a Call of Cthulhu The Coloring Book coloring competition. Share your colored handiwork on social media with the hashtag #homewithchaosium and they'll reshare and will be giving away prizes to their favorite entries.Images: Chaosium, Inc. Read the rest

Lithub has a wonderful piece on the classic Jimmy Webb composition, "Wichita Lineman," one of the most enduring pop songs ever written. Made famous by the late Glen Campbell, the author of piece describes the song as one that "defies the injustice of repetition."And then, there's that amazing "I need you more than want you" couplet.There is little ambiguity about the greatest couplet ever written. The punchline—the sucker punch—of “Wichita Lineman,” the line in the song that resonates so much, the line that contains one of the most exquisite romantic couplets in the history of song—“And I need you more than want you / and I want you for all time”—could be many people’s perfect summation of love, although some, including writer Michael Hann, think it’s something sadder and perhaps more profound. “It is need, more than want, that defines the narrator’s relationship; if they need their lover more than wanting them, then naturally they will want them for all time. The couplet encompasses the fear that those who have been in relationships do sometimes struggle with: good God, what happens to me if I am left alone?” Hann is certainly right when he says that it’s a heart-stopping line, and no matter how many hundreds of times you hear it, no matter what it means to you, it never loses its ability to shock and confound.Read the rest here.Here is Glen Campbell singing the track on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour in the late 60s. Read the rest

The Flu (2013) is available as an Amazon Prime streaming movie.From the YouTube description:The Flu is the first ever South Korean disaster film about a viral pandemic. It has been garnering much attention after being voted first place in "Most Anticipated Film" survey conducted by Nate for August with a whopping 47%. The highly anticipated disaster film tells the story of panic, despair, and desperate struggle for survival of a hopeless city that has been quarantined and essentially left for dead after the outbreak of a deadly virus. With its realistic portrayal of the horror and chaos that follows a national scale disaster, "The Flu" may just be the film that will make history in the South Korean disaster film genre. Read the rest

In Oregon, the Newport Police Department posted a message on Facebook (pasted below) urging citizens not to dial 911 when they run out of toilet paper. The reason they posted this is because, yes, people have been they expect stupid people will be calling 911 after running out of toilet paper. (Here's their update that spurred the correction.) image: GorillaSushi (CC BY-SA 2.0) Read the rest

As a parent, you likely start feeling a little guilty whenever you let your kid play video games for too long. Gaming is fun and most kids get completely enraptured, but you inevitably start thinking about all the more enriching and educational ways they could fill those hours spent rampaging through digital worlds and blasting enemies.So how about a compromise? You’ll let them dig deep into cool games on a fun gaming console...but they have to build the whole thing first. And we don’t just mean plugging in controllers and making sure the AC cable is working.The MAKERbuino Educational DIY Game Console is the perfect project for getting game-obsessed kids actually delving deeper into electronics and thinking about exactly how their games actually work. In fact, you may never find a more kid-friendly introduction to a STEM career than giving them the freedom to literally build their own gaming system.Based on Arduino UNO electronics boards, this kit includes all the components and detailed instructions to help inquisitive youngsters or even curious oldsters assemble their very own working handheld gaming device with more than 30 preloaded games.It does require some basic soldering and at least five hours to put together, so it’s best for kids who are tweens or older, but no kid will feel more rewarded than after they’ve actually constructed a gaming device all on their own.Compatible with Arduino expansion modules and programmed in open-source Arduino IDE, the most popular programming environment for makers, the MAKERbuino is ultra-customizable. Read the rest

The folks in Trump's loyalty cult were crowing with I-told-you-so glee when the stock market experienced a relatively puny uptick on Friday. Trump even added his signature to a misleadingly cropped chart of the short-lived rally and sent it to his most embarrassingly spittle-licking sycophants, like Fox News' Lou Dobbs, who could barely contain his excitement over the temporary blip. At the end of Monday's trading day, the Dow had dropped nearly 3,000 points, making Trump's autographed rally look like statistical noise. Read the rest

Get ready to sing. With thousands of other people. Alone at home. That's the idea behind the upcoming Choir! Choir! Choir! Facebook Live event, "Choir!ntine: EPIC Social Distan-Sing-Along!"The experts have spoken and we’re seriously taking their advice that sticking close to home, and limiting exposure to other people will help reduce the spread of the corona virus. At the same time, it’s been sad to have to postpone gigs in Toronto and around the world. But just because we're now in a time of “social distancing”, doesn’t mean we can’t hang out, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do this Tuesday!Presenting: "Choir!ntine" - An EPIC Social Distan-Sing-Along!Starting at 8pm EST, DaBu will broadcast from their living room and everyone is invited to log on and sing with us. And just like our shows, we’ll hang out, share some laughs and hold our C!ommunity close. Whether you've ever come out to Choir! or not, you are invited to join us online.Want to be part of it?First, download the lyrics. You'll be belting out familiar songs like "Lean on Me," Bowie's "Space Oddity." and the Golden Girls' theme, "You've Got a Friend."Second, head to the Choir! Choir! Choir! Facebook page on Tuesday, March 17 (8 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Pacific).Third, SING YOUR LITTLE HEART OUT. (Again, home alone.)This Tuesday from 8-9:30pm EST, you are invited to CHOIR!NTINE: AN EPIC SOCIAL DISTANCING SING-A-LONGWhere: https://t.co/m9cfdli0grDownload lyrics here: https://t.co/yRMl7IzXdXThen join our Livestream Tuesday at 8pm! Read the rest

Don't get me wrong — it's fun to be in the audience during a big, zany wrestling match, cheering on the drama both despite and to embrace the kayfabe. But this gloriously bizarre performance art satisfies a very different part of my brain. Read the rest

My favorite thing about joke D&D alignment charts is that I am always, always Chaotic Good. I just can't avoid my nature, and everybody knows it. View this post on Instagram some friendly dos/dontsA post shared by Aiden :) (@aidenarata) on Mar 15, 2020 at 8:53pm PDTLawful Good: washing your hands, social distancing, and forwarding your mom's pandemic advice emails to your friendsNeutral Good: taking loong moody walks by yourself at weird hours of the dayChaotic Good: having a facetime tinder hookup and venmoing your service industry friends what you would have spent at the barLawful Neutral: writing a series of poems/personal essays on what "distance" means to youTrue Neutral: putting aside your manuscript to watch all 543 episodes of choppedChaotic Neutral: adopting a lizardLawful Evil: hoarding hand sanitizer and toilet paperNeutral Evil: exacerbating panic and yelling at people on the internetChaotic Evil: having the privilege and resources to be able to self-isolate and choosing not to because this is America and you feel finevia Aiden Arata on InstagramTop image via Wikimedia Commons / CC 4.0 Read the rest

"Vegas Dave" Oancea is a bit of a celebrity bookie for sports betting; or at least, that's how he's been described by my friends who care about such things. But with so many leagues canceling or postponing games in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis — and in the wake of his own recent legal problems — Vegas Dave is particularly desperate to keep the cash flowing.And that's why he's now offering serious bets on things like curling. Badminton. Cricket? Checkers. Even UNO! (Yes, really) If you're lucky, there could be some bets on spelling bees and hula-hooping, too.$499 CURLING WHALE PLAY OF THE DAY!! ALSO FLIP 100S INTO THOUSANDS ON THE $99 BADMINTON AND CRICKET PACKAGES!!!.CLICK THE LINK IN MY BIO ABOVE 👆AND CASH OUT!!! LETS FUCKING GO!!!! pic.twitter.com/EOC4mxxdeF— Dave Oancea (@itsvegasdave) March 13, 2020Let’s f–king go. Forget about March Madness, forget about the NBA, forget about baseball being delayed for a couple of weeks. I’ve got the curling whale play of the day. I’ve been studying curling all fucking day. Also the $99 badminton package, $99 cricket package.HOW THE FUCK DO I DO IT🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/Reps34R3MX— Dave Oancea (@itsvegasdave) March 13, 2020How the fuck do I do it? Curling whale winner. Badminton package cashes three parlays and the fucking cricket package? Perfect 3-0 clean sweep. Tomorrow, we got archery, checkers, and an UNO tournament. We’re also trying to get into the spelling bee contest, the over/under of every other sport in the world that’s still going on. Read the rest

With many people playing their part to flatten the COVID-19 case curve by staying home, Korg and Moog are doing their part to keep them occupied by giving away free versions of their synthesizer apps.For a limited time Moog’s Minimoog Model D iOS app and Korg’s iKaossilator app for iOS and Android are free to download. I got them both and they are a lot of fun.Image: YouTube Read the rest

The BBC reports that a stag beetle threw his girlfriend from the top of a 25-meter tree. He is alleged to have assaulted number of other a male stag beetles earlier in the day before throwing his partner out of the tree. It's not clear whether or not the female survived the fall. Read the rest

Please enjoy the underground classic "Rabbit Habit" by Steve Peck, who writes:This is an animated cartoon I produced myself in 1975 to show what Bugs, Daffy and Elmer would be doing in Central Park 12 years after WB stopped making Looney Tunes.....I showed it to Tex Avery in 1975 when he was 80 and he loved it and said "I wish I had a job to give you." Showed it to Chuck Jones. He was very conservative and did not like what I had done to his characters and did not offer me a job. (via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

U.S. health officials confirmed on Monday the first human trial testing a potential vaccine to prevent COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.Read about the coronavirus vaccine clinical trial at the NIH website.The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a federal agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, has been fast-tracking work with biotech company Moderna to develop a vaccine using the current strain of the new coronavirus, reports CNBC: The trial is taking place at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle, Washington, where COVID-19 cases have surged and authorities have banned mass gatherings. The early-stage, or phase 1, trial will test the vaccine on 45 males and non-pregnant females between the ages of 18 and 55, according to trial details on NIH’s website. As I understand it, this first phase is about determining whether the drug causes harm to humans. Testing the safety of any new drug comes first.Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, last week said that even in the best case scenario, a vaccine isn't likely for at least 12 to 18 months.More from CNBC:He said the potential vaccine by Moderna contains genetic material called messenger RNA, or mRNA, that was produced in a lab. The mRNA is a genetic code that tells cells how to make a protein and was found in the outer coat of the new coronavirus, according to researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute. Read the rest

Major U.S. passenger and cargo airlines say they need more than $50 billion in federal bailout money as the coronavirus pandemic closes businesses and dramatically slows down air travel. A lobbying group that represents 10 U.S. passenger and cargo airlines said Monday that in a worst-case scenario, the airlines will “run out of money completely sometime between June 30 and the end of the year.” More from CNBC:The aid, if received, would be the industry’s first broad bailout since the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. It is also the clearest sign yet of the financial damage coronavirus and the draconian measures governments are taking to stop it are having on American businesses.Airlines for America, which represents carriers including Delta, United, American, and Southwest, recommended passenger carriers immediately receive up to $25 billion in grants to compensate for reduced liquidity and in the medium-term $25 billion in low- or zero-interest loans.More:US airlines seek more than $50 billion in government assistance as coronavirus roils business Read the rest

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena today reports new evidence of accelerating glacier melt in Antarctica. “Observations from 11 satellite missions monitoring the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have revealed that the regions are losing ice six times faster than they were in the 1990s,” reads the NASA JPL announcement. “If the current melting trend continues, the regions will be on track to match the "worst-case" scenario of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of an extra 6.7 inches (17 centimeters) of sea level rise by 2100.” The two regions have lost 6.4 trillion tons of ice in three decades; unabated, this rate of melting could cause flooding that affects hundreds of millions of people by 2100. More from the news announcement:The findings, published online March 12 in the journal Nature from an international team of 89 polar scientists from 50 organizations, are the most comprehensive assessment to date of the changing ice sheets. The Ice Sheet Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise team combined 26 surveys to calculate changes in the mass of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets between 1992 and 2018.The assessment was supported by NASA and the European Space Agency. The surveys used measurements from satellites including NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite and the joint NASA-German Aerospace Center Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment. Andrew Shepherd at the University of Leeds in England and Erik Ivins at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California led the study.The team calculated that the two ice sheets together lost 81 billion tons per year in the 1990s, compared with 475 billion tons of ice per year in the 2010's - a sixfold increase. Read the rest

The complete abandonment of any leadership whatsoever. That's what we are witnessing in Donald Trump's response to the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic that is now killing Americans at an exponentially increasing rate.“Respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment — try getting it yourselves,” Donald Trump told state governors on an emergency pandemic conference call.Yes. He said that.From the NYT's live coverage:President Trump told a group of governors Monday morning that they should not wait for the federal government to fill the growing demand for respirators needed to help people diagnosed with coronavirus.“Respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment — try getting it yourselves,” Mr. Trump told the governors during the conference call, a recording of which was shared with The New York Times.“We will be backing you, but try getting it yourselves. Point of sales, much better, much more direct if you can get it yourself.”The suggestion surprised some of the governors, who have been scrambling to contain the outbreak and are increasingly looking to the federal government for help with equipment, personnel and financial aid.Mr. Trump used much of the call to repeat the same upbeat rhetoric he has offered in public, assuring the governors: “We’re going to get it remedied and hopefully very quickly.” I mean, wow.Wow. Read the rest

“We have a simple message for all countries: Test, test, test. Test every suspected case.”“You cannot fight a fire blindfolded, and we cannot stop this pandemic if we don't know who is infected,” The World Health Organization's Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a coronavirus briefing on Monday, as the pandemic continues to shut down cities around the world. Here is the full briefing at the W.H.O's website."We have seen a rapid escalation in social distancing measures, like closing schools and cancelling events and other gatherings,” said Tedros, “But we haven't seen enough escalation in testing, isolation, and contact tracing, which is the backbone of the COVID-19 response.”“The most effective way to prevent infections & save lives is breaking the chains of COVID-19 transmission. To do that, you must test and isolate.”FULL TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS.WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 - 16 March 2020 16 March 2020Good afternoon everyone.In the past week, we have seen a rapid escalation of cases of COVID-19.More cases and deaths have now been reported in the rest of the world than in China.We have also seen a rapid escalation in social distancing measures, like closing schools and cancelling sporting events and other gatherings.But we have not seen an urgent enough escalation in testing, isolation and contact tracing – which is the backbone of the response.Social distancing measures can help to reduce transmission and enable health systems to cope.Handwashing and coughing into your elbow can reduce the risk for yourself and others. Read the rest

In 1960 during the early days of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson, who died last month, wrote an article titled "Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation" for the journal Science. He posited that "if extraterrestrial intelligent beings exist and have reached a high level of technical development, one by-product of their energy metabolism is likely to be the large-scale conversion of starlight into far-infrared radiation." One way to achieve that, he suggested, was by building an "artificial biosphere surrounding one star." And with that seed, the science fiction (science fact?) idea of an alien megastructure has grown, even making its way onto an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. From Elizabeth Howell's article in Space.com:One of Dyson's daughters sent the physicist a videotape of a 1987 episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" called "Relics," Dyson said. The plot follows a distress call heard by the famous USS Enterprise starship; fans of the series may recall this as a crossover episode with "Star Trek: The Original Series" star Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (played by James Doohan).The crew warps in space to the source of the call and discovers an immense Dyson sphere — which is indeed portrayed as a solid spherical object — surrounding a star. If we were to place this sphere in our own solar system, it would be so large that it would extend almost as far as the orbit of Venus, according to "Star Trek" fan site Memory Alpha. Read the rest

Telepathy. ESP. The ability to communicate thoughts, feelings, or experiences without using our known sensory channels is a timeless superpower. Soon, advances in neuroscience, molecular biology, and computer science will make some kinds of synthetic telepathy possible. Meanwhile though, methods to treat brain disorders through magnetic stimulation of brain circuits could enable crude (or eventually not-so-crude) mind control. National Institutes of Health neuroscientist R. Douglas Fields -- author of Electric Brain: How the New Science of Brainwaves Reads Minds, Tells Us How We Learn, and Helps Us Change for the Better -- wrote a brief essay for Scientific American surveying the present, past, and possible future of this strange field. From Scientific American:Neuroscientist Marcel Just and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University are using fMRI brain imaging to decipher what a person is thinking. By using machine learning to analyze complex patterns of activity in a person’s brain when they think of a specific number or object, read a sentence, experience a particular emotion or learn a new type of information, the researchers can read minds and know the person’s specific thoughts and emotions. “Nothing is more private than a thought,” Just says, but that privacy is no longer sacrosanct.......The prospect of “mind control” frightens many, and brain stimulation to modify behavior and treat mental illness has a sordid history. In the 1970s neuropsychologist Robert Heath at Tulane University inserted electrodes into a homosexual man’s brain to “cure” him of his homosexual nature by stimulating his brain’s pleasure center. Read the rest

French conglomerate LVMH -- owner of Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, and Christian Dior, and other luxury brands -- is converting its perfume production lines to crank out hand sanitizer. And no, they won't be selling high ticket hand sanitizer bottles in their boutiques. "These gels will be delivered free of charge to the health authorities," the company announced. "LVMH will continue to honour this commitment for as long as necessary, in connection with the French health authorities."(BBC)image: Louis Vuitton 200ML Travel Case Read the rest

In this charming video, a hoss enjoys dipping its head beneath the surface of a pond and blowing bubbles like a kid with a milkshake.If you would like to enjoy another clip like this, turn to page G5P_oZFjrb. If you would like this clip ruined for you, turn to page lHytjEj7B9g. Read the rest

In 2014, reddit user u/damburglar posted this abandoned recreation of Edward Hopper's 1942 painting Nighthawks. That it's a plainly-rendered 3D model seems to make it even creepier. [via]Here's one from Maxim Leyzerovich:pic.twitter.com/y2Rd8H6Mxx— Maxim Leyzerovich (@round) March 16, 2020 Read the rest

Thousands of runners participated in a half-marathon in Bath, England this weekend despite warnings from public health experts that it could expose runners to the novel coronavirus. Organizers of the event, which usually attracts crowds of more than 10,000, refused to cancel it despite hundreds of cases in the U.K. and a growing tally of the dead.Bath's MP Wera Hobhouse was among thousands condemning the decision to go ahead.She called for the event to be cancelled saying protecting "the most vulnerable in our city from a further spread of the infection must be the priority". On the Bath half marathon's Facebook page some 1,800 people left comments, with a large number against the decision to go ahead. The newspapers over in the UK are presenting the pandemic as if it were The Blitz, an opportunity to show Wartime Spirit and to enact War Measures and indulge the immortal British boomer fantasy that life there was never better than when the Germans were making the rubble bounce.So we end up with 10,000 people in a slow-moving crowd spending hours grinding their bodies to gasping exhaustion during a viral pandemic, all to show 2019-nCoV What For. Read the rest

Artist and entrepreneurial prankster Danielle Baskin is at it again. This time, Danielle has created a line of cling-on faux stained glass windows that you can slap up on any commercial plane window for inflight prayer and reflection. "Now, isn't that special?," sayeth the Church Lady.She writes on Facebook:Made faux stained glass for plane windows so you can pray during your domestic flights.This is a flexible film that clings to glass. There’s no adhesive, so you can easily take this on and off your window to improve your in-flight prayer experience.It also protects against any germs that might be on windows! It's infinitely washable with soap and water or can be sprayed with disinfectant.Rolls up easily for travel.The windows are available in five sizes (to fit your aircraft of choice) at her Magic Store .See more coverage of Danielle's work on Boing Boing.Images used with permission of the artist Read the rest

Multi-talented musician, artist, and graphic designer, John Bergin, has just released a new Blackmouth recording. Blackmouth is John, his long-time collaborator, Brett Smith, and Jarboe (formerly of Swans). The trio's first album was released in 1999. The current record is a deluxe edition featuring 26 tracks and includes the 1999 recording. Here is the first video from the album.Previous coverage of John Bergin on Boing Boing:John Bergin goes pop-art post-apocalypse in new Wednesday comicMoving Paintings From InsideImage: YouTube Read the rest

I ended up supporting a particular marble, emotionally investing in its success, then being sickeningly disappointed upon its inevitable defeat, by a different marble. They call this "Marbula One" racing, with a marble rally series to go with it. Read the rest

The New York Times has an excellent, harrowing story about Matt and Noah Colvin of Tennessee — two of the many people who have tried to exploit the coronavirus panic for profit. The Colvin Brothers saw the chaos coming, and thought to buy up all of the hand sanitizer they could find. The plan, of course, was to control the supply in anticipation of a growing demand. This way, they could mark the price up and make a hefty profit margin. It's in the nature of our system: greed is smart, and should be rewarded.But online retailers like Amazon (not usually known as the arbiter of a moral marketplace) and eBay got wind of these price-gouging strategies, and decided to do something about it:The next day, Amazon pulled his items and thousands of other listings for sanitizer, wipes and face masks. The company suspended some of the sellers behind the listings and warned many others that if they kept running up prices, they’d lose their accounts. EBay soon followed with even stricter measures, prohibiting any U.S. sales of masks or sanitizer.Now, while millions of people across the country search in vain for hand sanitizer to protect themselves from the spread of the coronavirus, Mr. Colvin is sitting on 17,700 bottles of the stuff with little idea where to sell them.In other words: they punished people for manipulating supply-and-demand in a time of great need, Amazon and eBay by cutting off the suppliers, so they can't sell the supplies they have, which in turn makes the demand grow. Read the rest

But will it make breakfast? The fun starts at the 1:47 mark.(Pee-wee Herman, Geekologie)screenshot via YouTube Read the rest

"It's no worse than the flu!" yells an angry man at a TV news crew in a parking lot. "I don't even blame the chinese!"Facts as they stand: the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has a mortality rate at least 8 times that of flu (South Korea, the lowest at 0.77%) and much higher elsewhere (China, 3.6%), with the curve heavily weighted to seniors and people with underlying health conditions. For example, flu mortality for the elderly is about 1.5%, but COVID-019 mortality for the elderly is in excess of 14%. Coronavirus (COVID-19) is unequivocally worse than flu. Read the rest