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Parents who brought kids to playground for staged event were told to move on before arrest for breaking public health order

If you enter Indonesia and don't immediately self-quarantine for 14 days, beware: you might be locked up in a haunted house.With 647 Covid-19 deaths so far in Indonesia, an area of Java is taking this peculiar measure to make sure people follow the social distancing rules. According to The Jakarta Post:Sragen regency head Kusdinar Untung Yuni Sukowati says she issued the unusual edict this week to deal with an influx of people to the area after lockdowns in the capital Jakarta and other major cities...Sukowati instructed communities to repurpose abandoned houses that were feared to be haunted -- tapping widespread beliefs in the supernatural, which play a key role in Indonesian folklore."If there's an empty and haunted house in the village, put people in there and lock them up," Sukowati told AFP Tuesday when asked about the rule.Officials in Sepat village chose a long-abandoned house and outfitted it with beds placed at a distance and separated by curtains.So far, five victims, er, people have been scared straight with the haunted house treatment. Image: PickPik Read the rest

Michael Caputo, the GOP media operative hired last week as a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has an unusually clean and boring twitter feed for a Trump crony. This is because he deleted his Twitter archives after observers noted the long history of hysterical attacks and conspiracy theorizing there, including a racist rant about the Chinese posted last month.In one recent conversation he described Trump critics as "the enemy of the people" and "carrying water for the Chinese Communist Party", suggested a criticism of Trump "rhymes with sedition", described the Covid-19 outbreak as a "national pandemic tragedy for the Democrats to win", and said that "millions of Chinese suck the blood of rabid bats as an appetizer and eat the ass out of anteaters but some foriegner snuck in a bottle of the good stuff."Not content with his remarks about the Chinese, Caputo accused George Soros of "requiring" a pandemic for his "political agenda" and posted the hashtag "#ChineseVirus" twenty times in a row, as many as Twitter would permit.Caputo, a prolific user who often tweeted insults and profanity, recently erased nearly his entire Twitter history from before April 12. CNN's KFile used the Internet Archive's Way Back Machine to review more than 1300 deleted tweets and retweets from late February to early April many, of which were regarding the rapidly spreading coronavirus.Caputo's ascent is another remindrt there is no bottom. CNN collects all his conspiracy theory stuff from March in one item. Read the rest

A TikTok investigation pic.twitter.com/raBSfI6Zg3— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) April 22, 2020It seems like everyone on the planet has seen this gray-rooted coronavirus protester complaining that she can't go to a hairdresser. But someone on Tik Tok looked at the length of her roots and determined that she has not had her hair done since October, many months before they stay at home order went into effect. Read the rest

I was already intimidated by his bloodcurling yell. (I just learned that's called a k'ihap in Korean or a kiai in Japanese.) Read the rest

I'm always suspicious when people say canned food lasts forever, and @DinosaurDracula proves my fear. Granted, the can was rusted, which may have caused more damage to the food than a can in pristine condition would do. Still, this can of Chef Boyardee Spider-Man pasta from 1995 emitted "noxious fumes" after the first twist of the can opener, and what was revealed inside will have me inspecting the expiration dates on all my pantry cans as soon as I'm finished with this post.I put the can opener to work, unsettled by the rust, but emboldened by the lack of noxious fumes. I turn the knob and wince, unable to rule out the possibility that the contents have mutated into something alive & malevolent. (2/5) pic.twitter.com/IBmJXBWZI2— Dinosaur Dracula (@DinosaurDracula) April 16, 2020 They say tragedy plus time equals comedy, but there's nothing funny about 15 ounces of Spider-Man Pasta reduced to a rotted 3-ounce chunk. Recalling the fate of Jordy Verrill in Creepshow, I'm thankful for my rubber gloves. (3/5) pic.twitter.com/W5WqQ7wEHs— Dinosaur Dracula (@DinosaurDracula) April 16, 2020 I think I notice something, but consult the label on the can to be sure. Indeed, there's poor Spider-Man, trapped in this godforsaken toxic monstrosity. I'm sorry, Peter. With old pasta comes great instability.Thank you all for taking this journey with me. (5/5) pic.twitter.com/6UcfRcN9tz— Dinosaur Dracula (@DinosaurDracula) April 16, 2020 [Via Mental Floss] Read the rest

Jaguar Health makes Mytesi, an antidiarrheal medication for people with HIV/AIDS. A 60-pill bottle used to cost $668.52. That was before the drugmaker ask the FDA to give it an emergency authorization to use Mytesi for people with the coronavirus. On April 9, Jaguar Health more than tripled the price of the drug to $2,206.52.According to Axios, "Jaguar Health isn't the only drug company that has raised prices amid the outbreak. The U.S. drugmaker of chloroquine doubled the price of its product last month, the Financial Times reported."On April 7 the FDA denied Jaguar Health's request, but the drugmaker is still talking to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to evaluate the effectiveness of Mytesi.Photo by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash Read the rest

In 1993, Trekkers took to public access cable television channel Citytv in Toronto with Ten Forward, a talk show all about Star Trek. In the above collection of clips, the hosts calmly deal with "weenoid" prank callers who apparently plagued the show. Note the fellow's finger expertly poised on the phone's "disconnect" button.(via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

In this video, The Q Cut a small hole in a cardboard box and placed a small piece of meat in it for his cat to take. Then, he put a new piece of meat in the box, a little farther away, to see if the cat would be able to reach it. He repeated the experiment several times, increasing resistance each time.Image: YouTube Read the rest

Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that suspends some residency applications, a measure far short of his earlier promise to block all immigration. It even fails to end the guest visa program for foreign laborers, the hot button he was attempting to press in the first place.The measure is expected to stop the practice of green card holders sponsoring their extended families for permanent US residency, which the president calls chain migration. But it makes an exception for American citizens' spouses and unmarried children under the age of 21. ... Also exempt are the hundreds of thousands of green card applicants already living and working in the US, and those seeking entry to work as doctors, nurses or other healthcare professionals. Another exception is the hundreds of thousands of temporary guest visas issued each year to such applicants as farm labourers and skilled workers in the H-1B visa programme.Some media just ran with their hurriedly recast "immigration banned!" headlines and stories, leading with the White House claims and barely touching upon (or simply not finding out about) the array of exemptions. The deepest problem with media is not false balance, bias or fake news. It is the speed and frequency at which things must be posted. Read the rest

If you purchased a smart phone app that doesn't meet your expectations, Popular Science has a guide for how to get your money back. The first thing to try is contacting Google or Apple and explaining why you want your money back. The last resort is complaining on Twitter. One thing not to do is give the app a one star review before you try to get your money back, or you will lose any leverage you might have.Similarly, the terms and conditions on iTunes and the Google Play Store also include refund requests, although in the case of Apple’s store terms are rather opaque. You have to log in to the Report a Problem portal, find the app you have an issue with, request a refund selecting what you feel is a valid and appropriate reason, briefly explain why, and hope it gets approved by the inner-bureaucracy.Google’s policies are a bit clearer, although hedged with ifs and maybes. Within 48 hours of purchasing an app you can request a refund from Google by logging into your Play Store account, going to Order History, selecting Request a Refund on the app you want to return, and explaining why. If you miss that 48-hour window, you have to contact the developers directly.Photo by Rami Al-zayat on Unsplash Read the rest

At least 4.4m workers claimed unemployment benefits for the first time in the week ending April 18. Unemployment Insurance Weekly ClaimsInitial claims were 4,427,000 for the week ending 4/18 (-810,000).Insured unemployment was 15,976,000 for the week ending 4/11 (+4,064,000).https://t.co/ys7Eg5LKAW— US Labor Department (@USDOL) April 23, 2020The numbers of new filers are down from the previous week, which saw 5.2m new claimants, and the 6.9m and 6.6m claims the two weeks previous to that. The numbers are nonetheless astronomical, and suggest that the total unemployment figure will soon exceed 30m, about 20% of the workforce.Roughly 26 million people have now filed for jobless aid in the five weeks since the coronavirus outbreak began forcing millions of employers to close their doors. About one in six American workers have now lost their jobs since mid-March, by far the worst string of layoffs on record. Economists have forecast that the unemployment rate for April could go as high as 20%. The enormous magnitude of job cuts has plunged the U.S. economy into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Some economists say the nation’s output could shrink by twice the amount that it did during the Great Recession, which ended in 2009. Read the rest

William Sun Petrus hacked an old Remington Portable typewriter to become a EDM dance box. For real though, whenever a hammer contacts with the "live plate", it will send a signal to the arduino. The arduino recognises which hammer has been pressed and fires a signal into my PC via the cable, and into Ableton. Ableton sees some MIDI information and understands that it needs to trigger that specific sound. This song is composed of 17 difference sounds, played live for you, right here, right now. This typewriter is actually just a small part of a much bigger project, so there's still a lot more to come! Read the rest

An old man in Japan owns a vintage topological puzzle, a little monster so difficult to solve that it ended up on Knight Scoop being taken to a physics professor, a professional magician and a chimpanzee in an effort to figure it out. Eventually a ring puzzle master shows how it's done (10:40 if you're pressed for time).UPDATE: This is clearly the same puzzle Rusty blogged back in 2017 in a post that's lost its YouTube. It's now so famous there's a website about the puzzle which sells replicas of it on Amazon. Read the rest

It was bound to happen. As soon as hoarders started scarfing up every square of toilet paper on store shelves last month, leaving the rest of us to nervously hope that more was on the way, savvy shoppers started considering an alternative.The alternative is a bidet. And with TP shortages coupled with pandemic-infused hygiene concerns, bum washer sales are skyrocketing. In fact, one manufacturer reported a 300 percent jump in sales over one week at the height of the craziness.While it took a global crisis to get many Americans onboard the bidet train, clean freaks and freshness fiends have been hip to the bidet’s unique talents for years. Now, models like the X-Clean Bidet Dual Nozzle Sprayer are giving the rest of us a chance to try it out for ourselves.This add-on bidet attachment hooks to your current bowl with an easy 10-step process that connects right to your current water supply and shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes to set up. Once online, the X-Clean’s front and rear spray nozzles promote better hygiene with warm thorough spritzes to keep everything down there clean without reams of toilet paper.The unit’s dual dials allow easy control of the water pressure, including the gentler front-facing nozzle designed for a woman’s comfort.While the X-Clean does a full-service job cleaning you, it does a pretty complete job cleaning itself as well. The nozzles retract in its self-cleaning mode, as internal mechanisms surge water through the system, allowing the X-Clean to expel foreign matter and effectively keep itself sterling clean every time. Read the rest

YouTube says it will remove "unsubstantiated medical content", taking aim at quacks, conspiracy theorists and grifters using the platform to exploit the Covid-19 pandemic.Chief executive Susan Wojcicki said the media giant wanted to stamp out "misinformation on the platform". Mrs Wojcicki made the remarks on Wednesday during her first interview since the global coronavirus lockdown began."So people saying, ‘Take vitamin C, take turmeric, we’ll cure you,’ those are the examples of things that would be a violation of our policy,” she told CNN.“Anything that would go against World Health Organization recommendations would be a violation of our policy.”YouTube has never cared about "misinformation on the platform" before and Wojcicki herself made a big show of readmitting previously-banned hate speech for vague free-speech reasons that nonetheless correspond to commercial incentives. This move suggests that the brightest legal minds conclude that platforming Covid-19 misinformation will come with a high price tag. Read the rest

“The bottom line is simply that we REFUSE to risk even ONE juggalo life by hosting a Gathering during these troubling times,” writes the Insane Clown Posse, demonstrating a greater empathy and concern for its fanbase than a lot of politicians.Stale News Break... pic.twitter.com/IeYQwOMjr9— Insane Clown Posse (@icp) April 22, 2020Photo: Nate Igor Smith Read the rest

Nothing more punk than releasing your first album in 35 years — during a global pandemic — by surprise. You can stream X's Alphabetland now in this very post:“When your heart is broken you think every song is about that. These songs were written in the last 18 months & it blows my mind how timely they are,” explained John Doe. “We all want our family, friends & fans to hear our records as soon as it’s finished. This time we could do that. Thanks to Fat Possum & our audience.”Stereogum:Today happens to be the 40th anniversary of Los Angeles, the classic debut album from the great California punk band X. And with absolutely no advance warning, X’s reunited original lineup have chosen today to release Alphabetland, their first studio album in 35 years.This cover art sure does look like the work of Wayne Whiteimages via X Read the rest

Google Apps Script might be one of the most popular “cheat codes” in all of programming. Of course, it’s not really a cheat, per se. It’s actually just a lightweight, simplified coding method for integrating the vast wealth of data in Google’s suite of apps, everything from Google Sheets to Gmail to Google Docs to YouTube, right into your own build.If you’re building an app and want to access import data from a CSV file into a Google Sheet spreadsheet, or you want to automate mailings from a Gmail account or any of dozens of simple, yet efficient processes, then Google Apps Script should be in your skillset. The training in The Increase Your Google App Productivity with Google Script Bundle can show you all you need to know to navigate the entire scene like a pro.The training starts the introductory level Google Apps Script Complete Course: Beginner to Advanced. Here, even first time users get a velvet glove experience learning Script, how it operates and the ways you can use it to power up your app projects immediately.Three follow-up courses take that baseline knowledge and offer up different Script projects to highlight the wealth of abilities available to users. In Google Apps Script Projects, students follow the steps for creating virtual databases within a Google spreadsheet. Then Google Apps Script 2020: Build 16+ Fun Projects Sites takes the learning further with easy-to-follow projects like creating auto-response emails, incorporating YouTube Video and more.Finally, Google Apps Google Script: Content System Web App Project focuses on bringing in other coding staples, including source code from HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, and Bootstrap that can add multiple layers of extra productivity to any app. Read the rest

I'm listening to X's new album, released today on Bandcamp, and it's amazingly good -- loaded with energy and Billy Zoom's mind-warping guitar. It's the original line-up and the band's first album in 35 years. It's called Alphabetland and the cover is by artist Wayne White.From Rolling Stone:In interviews, the band members have expressed mixed emotions about making a new album. All of them except for Zoom said they would want to make a new one in a 2017 Rolling Stone profile of the group.“Families are complicated,” Doe said at the time, carefully choosing his words. “There’s certain … Yeah, I’m not gonna go there.”“It wouldn’t work,” Zoom said. “The chemistry wouldn’t be right. [Some band members] are in different places and stubborn, and I don’t want to go into detail, but it wouldn’t sound like an X record.” The band has yet to explain the change of heart.. Read the rest

Carla ordered these cheap Bic mechanical pencils. I tried one out and I actually like it a lot. The lead diameter is 0.9 mm and it has a number 2 lead inside. It also contains one extra lead in the barrel. A 24-pack sells for about $.25 a pencil. They are supposed to be disposable, but why not buy a bunch of 9 mm lead for cheap and keep using the pencil? You can even get colored leads! Read the rest

After 22 days of being hospitalized with symptoms of COVID-19, and developing pneumonia, singer and counter-cultural icon, Marianne Faithfull, has been released from the hospital. Her official Facebook page writes:We are really happy to say that Marianne has been discharged from hospital today, 22 days after being admitted suffering from the symptoms of Covid-19. She will continue to recuperate in London. Marianne thanks you all for your kind messages of concern which have meant a great deal through what is a such a difficult time for so many. She is also very grateful to all the NHS staff who cared for her at the hospital and, without doubt, saved her life.In celebration, enjoy this tribute song that Marianne wrote upon the passing of her lifelong friend, Anita Richards (Keith's ex)."Forever loving you," Marianne.Image: YouTube Read the rest

Speaking of Gary Numan, I just discovered these basement session videos from 2014 on the YouTubes. I especially like this version of "Are Friends Electric?"There only seems to be three performances available. I assume there are more.Image: YouTube Read the rest

Doctors say the disease caused by the novel coronavirus appears to be causing strokes in young adult patients, some who didn't even know they were infected.If these early reports bear out, it is possible that this could cause the official known toll of the pandemic to be lower than reality -- if patients in their 30s and 40s are dying of stroke, they may not be counted as having died of COVID-19, the thinking goes.From CNN's Maggie Fox:Dr. Thomas Oxley, a neurosurgeon at Mount Sinai Health System in New York, and colleagues gave details of five people they treated. All were under the age of 50, and all had either mild symptoms of Covid-19 infection or no symptoms at all."The virus seems to be causing increased clotting in the large arteries, leading to severe stroke," Oxley told CNN."Our report shows a seven-fold increase in incidence of sudden stroke in young patients during the past two weeks. Most of these patients have no past medical history and were at home with either mild symptoms (or in two cases, no symptoms) of Covid," he added."All tested positive. Two of them delayed calling an ambulance."Other doctors have also reported that people are reluctant to call 911 or go to emergency rooms because of the pandemic. It is not common for people so young to have strokes, especially strokes in the large vessels in the brain."For comparison, our service, over the previous 12 months, has treated on average 0.73 Read the rest

You might say she was willing to gamble with their lives.It's been quite a week for politicians saying awful things that reveal how little they care about the human beings they govern. Latest case in point, the mayor of Las Vegas.In this CNN clip with Anderson Cooper, Mayor Carolyn Goodman of Las Vegas, Nevada offers her city as a “control group” -- she says, "we offer to be a control group" (!!!) -- to find out how many people will become infected with coronavirus and die without social distancing.She is a supporter of impeached president Donald Trump, who is pushing states and mayors to lift social distancing guidelines. Trump is also tweeting erratic commands to his armed supporters about liberating states, and it's all very weird.Watch the clip:Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman calls for businesses to reopen, while saying she won't provide social distancing guidelines on how to do so safely."They better figure it out. That's their job. That's not the mayor's job." https://t.co/lx4A6WuB0P pic.twitter.com/fEedR19LYX— CNN (@CNN) April 22, 2020The brouhaha over her televised comments may be for naught -- there are reports she has no such jurisdiction, anyway.The Las Vegas Strip is not in the City of Las Vegas.She is the mayor of the City of Las Vegas, not the Las Vegas Strip.Turns out the mayor has no control over the Las Vegas strip. From @ThisAlexTin: "City of Las Vegas doesn't actually have any jurisdiction over the Las Vegas Strip. Read the rest

• Dr. Rick Bright, head of the agency responsible for vaccines in the Trump administration, released a statement Wednesday that blames political motives for his abrupt reassignment.• "I am speaking out because to combat this deadly virus, science – not politics or cronyism – has to lead the way."WASHINGTON: Dr. Rick Bright, a leading official at the United States Department of Health and Human Services, says he was demoted for fighting efforts to “fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections,” and for opposing hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug touted by Trump as a coronavirus treatment. Bright says he wants an investigation by the Inspector general, and has hired a whistleblower lawyer. Here is the full statement from Bright:"Yesterday, I was removed from my positions as the Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response by the Administration and involuntarily transferred to a more limited and less impactful position at the National Institutes of Health. I believe this transfer was in response to my insistence that the government invest the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the COVID-19 pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit. I am speaking out because to combat this deadly virus, science -- not politics or cronyism -- has to lead the way."I have spent my entire career in vaccine development, in the government with CDC and BARDA and also in the biotechnology industry. Read the rest

Impeached U.S. president Donald Trump says his administration plans to soon reopen the country's national parks and other public lands, with details to be announced on specific sites in coming days.“We will begin to open our national parks and public lands for the American people to enjoy,” Trump announced at an Earth Day event at the White House, offering no further information. Some national parks have actually remained open throughout the whole COVID-19 pandemic, but many have been closed.Here is the White House announcement. We're committed to conserving the wonders of God's creation by protecting our national parks and public lands! pic.twitter.com/0gGl245a7S— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 22, 2020Gotta get some God in there.Here is a statement from Trump's acting secretary of the Interior.President @realDonaldTrump, @VP and I are committed to working with governors and local public health officials to gradually reopen our National Parks in a safe manner for the American people to once again enjoy. #NationalParkWeek pic.twitter.com/MaUObBJtRK— Secretary David Bernhardt (@SecBernhardt) April 22, 2020From Reuters:Representatives for the White House referred questions to the Department of Interior, which oversees public lands, including federal parks.“More details will be provided in the coming days on plans for the reopening of specific parks following guidance from OMB (Office of Management and Budget) and the President’s plan for Opening Up America Again,” representatives for the department said in a statement.Trump’s comment comes as some U.S. states move forward with plans to restart economic activity as soon as this week despite concern from public health officials and others about the potential for a spike in coronavirus cases. Read the rest

On Wednesday, Facebook said it will label posts from popular accounts to reveal their geographic origin, an attempt to limit election-year political misinformation by foreign entities. Often, such accounts attempt to trick the user into believing they are legitimate groups and political parties based in the United States.Today we're beginning to show the location of high-reach Facebook Pages and Instagram accounts on *every post they share.* Really proud of the teams continuing to increase transparency like this. https://t.co/jwFg34bttp pic.twitter.com/w3UdYkQ1NS— Nathaniel Gleicher (@ngleicher) April 22, 2020Here is the official announcement from Facebook.More from AP:The new policy will apply to popular pages about elections, entertainment and other topics and will stamp every post they make on Facebook and Instagram with its origin. For instance, an Instagram account targeting U.S. voters but based in Brazil will have every post labeled with “Based in Brazil.” Users then can swipe to find out more information about the account.It’s the social network’s latest attempt to fight election-related misinformation. Russia and other countries have been using social media to try to influence political discourse in the U.S. and elsewhere, often by masquerading as local interest groups.Facebook will initially target pages based outside of the U.S. that reach a large number of people inside the U.S. The labels, the company says, will help people “gauge the reliability and authenticity” of what they see.Read the rest:Facebook to label national origin of popular posts Read the rest

More than 12 government-backed hacker groups are exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic as cover for digital reconnaissance and espionage, a new report by Google's Threat Analysis Group finds.An excerpt from reporting by Lily Hay Newman at Wired:On Wednesday, Google's Threat Analysis Group published findings about two of the state-sponsored campaigns it's been tracking. One "notable" effort, according to the researchers, targeted US government employees through their personal email accounts with phishing messages posing as coronavirus-related updates from fast food chains. TAG says that some of the emails included coupons or free meal offers framed as pandemic specials, and others promoted malicious links as portals to order food online. If victims clicked the links, they were taken to phishing pages aimed at collecting their Google login credentials. TAG says that Gmail automatically marked the vast majority of these emails as spam and blocked the malicious links."Hackers frequently look at crises as an opportunity, and COVID-19 is no different," TAG director Shane Huntley wrote in a blog post about the findings. "Across Google products, we’re seeing bad actors use COVID-related themes to create urgency so that people respond to phishing attacks and scams.… TAG has specifically identified over a dozen government-backed attacker groups using COVID-19 themes as lure for phishing and malware attempts—trying to get their targets to click malicious links and download files."TAG says it isn't aware of any accounts that were compromised as a result of the fast food campaign, and Google notified all the targeted users with its standard "government-backed attacker" warning. Read the rest

"Beth" is Kiss's biggest hit ever and, interestingly, was co-written and sung by the band's drummer Peter Criss. It's arguably one of the most iconic power ballads of the 1970s. (Full song below.) But what was the song really about? Director Brian Billow shows that there's always two sides to every story. And if there isn't, you can just make one up. "Beth" the film stars Lilli Birdsell as Beth and Steven Olson as Peter.(via Dangerous Minds) Read the rest

A large majority of people surveyed say they are concerned that restrictions on social distancing will be lifted too soon. Even before cities and states issued stay at home orders, people were avoiding restaurants and other crowded places, according to Matthew Iglesias of Vox. There's no reason to think that "reopening" the economy is certainly going to make people think it's OK to mingle in crowds again.This week, governors in states like Florida and Georgia are moving to reopen bowling alleys, nail salons, and dine-in restaurants in an effort to get economic life moving again. And an organized campaign by conservative economic interests is underway to lift restrictions faster in more places.This will be an experiment, of course, but the best available evidence casts doubt on the idea that enough customers will return to make it possible for small businesses to stay viable without additional government assistance.For example, we know customers began abandoning America’s restaurants before they were ordered closed, that the handful of states that have avoided broad lockdown orders are still feeling economic pain, and that huge swaths of the economy that have not been shut down are nonetheless experiencing a precipitous decline in sales.It's also hard to imagine that a lot of people who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic are going to get them back if the economy is "reopened." And it's unlikely people are going to get on planes, take vacations, stay in hotels, or buy cars and other expensive items. Read the rest

Amid the news that hydroxychloroquine is actually more dangerous than beneficial, this video might come in handy when the lawsuits start rolling in.pic.twitter.com/nC4Ve1NBNQ— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) April 21, 2020Hydroxychloroquine, a word that spilled like honey from the lips of her lovers at Fox News, is no longer welcome at the channel. Shunned like a Roger Ailes victim who complained about being assaulted, the chemical has been forgotten by its formerly infatuated swains, including Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham.Maybe the rift began after those studies came out showing hydroxychloroquine didn't work against coronavirus and in fact caused higher death rates then coronavirus patients who did not take the drug.We'll never know, because Fox News doesn't want to talk about it."Will anyone who breathlessly pitched hydroxychloroquine as a miracle drug show a modicum of regret or even self-awareness over this? Doubtful," tweeted Sam Stein of The Daily Beast. "More likely is they’ll ignore the study entirely."Fox News is past it. Can't we do the same and respect their privacy in this personal matter between former lovers? Read the rest

In 1977, Steve "Woz" Wozniak used a neat hack to bring color to the Apple II computer. According to IEEE Spectrum, the obscure trick, called NTSC artifact color, "allows digital systems without specialized graphics hardware to produce color images by exploiting quirks in how TVs decode analog video signals." That hack later was employed by the IBM PC, Radio Shack TRS-80, and other early home computers. But how did Woz learn about it? Turns out, videogame legend Al Alcorn, inventor of Pong, turned Woz onto the hack. From IEEE Spectrum:Stephen Cass: Analog NTSC televisions generate color by looking at the phase of a signal relative to a reference frequency. So how did you come across this color test tool, and how did it work? Al Alcorn: When I was 13, 14, my neighbor across the street had a television repair shop. I would go down there and at the same time, I had my father sign me up for an RCA correspondence course on radio and television repair. So, by the time I got to Berkeley, I was a journeyman TV repairman and actually paid my way through college through television. In one repair shop, there was a real cheap, sleazy color bar generator [for testing televisions]. And instead of doing color properly by synthesizing the phases and stuff like that, it simply used a crystal that was 3.58 megahertz [the carrier frequency for the color signal] minus 15.750 kilohertz, which was the horizontal scan frequency. So it slipped one phase, 360 degrees, every scan line. Read the rest

YouTuber 3Blue1Brown has started a video series called "lockdown math." In his latest episode he goes over the fundamentals of trigonometry in a way that is accessible and enjoyable. Read the rest

This image shows how a woman's silicone breast implant deflected a bullet fired at close range, likely stopping the slug from killing her. University of Toronto surgeon Giancarlo McEvenue and his colleagues report on this curiouse case in the SAGE medical journal. The shooter was never identified. From CNN:"The bullet wound entry was on the left breast, but the rib fracture was on the right side. The bullet entered the skin on the left side first, and then ricocheted across her sternum into the right breast and broke her rib on the right side," he explained."The implant caused the change in the trajectory of the bullet," he said.The woman suffered a gunshot wound, broken ribs and broken implants, but otherwise was remarkably unscathed."On the left hand side is the heart and lungs -- if the bullet would have gone into the chest, she would have had a much more serious, possibly life-threatening injury," McEvenue added.Here is the full report in SAGE, including graphic images of the surgery: "Life-Saving Silicone Breast Implant After Firearm Injury: Case Report and Treatment Recommendations" Read the rest

Built in the late 1980s, Biosphere 2 is the human habitat in Oracle, Arizona that was meant to help scientists understand how humans might live in space. In 1991, eight people went inside for two years of experimental quarantine inside the vivarium. The premise, and much of what happened, would make for a great JG Ballard novel. Spaceship Earth, a new documentary about Biosphere 2 directed by Matt Wolf, promises to tell the real tale, warts and all. It premieres online May 8. From Neon, the indie studio releasing the film:The [Biosphere 2] experiment was a worldwide phenomenon, chronicling daily existence in the face of life threatening ecological disaster and a growing criticism that it was nothing more than a cult. The bizarre story is both a cautionary tale and a hopeful lesson of how a small group of dreamers can potentially reimagine a new world. Read the rest

These were made by artist Chezka Sunit. And as excited as I am about that new live-action Dune movie, I'm already craving an anime version using this artwork 'cause it's gorgeous. View this post on Instagram Dune Series #5 Paul Atreides of House Atreides. 🏜 I'm planning to do two versions of Paul, this and him being the Muad'Dib of the Fremen. #dune #frankherbert #paul #atreides #digitalart #scifi #artnouveau #artdecoA post shared by Suumum (Chezka Sunit) (@suumum) on Feb 12, 2020 at 12:09pm PST View this post on Instagram Re-upload. The first quality was so bad. Sorry. Dune Series #9 Alia Atreides (St. Alia of the Knife) Thank you for being patient and always supportive of this series, lately I've been swamped with work plus this lockdown is kinda driving me nuts. I miss cycling and hiking. I had a real blast doing this, I love Mongolian, Tibetian, Bedouin, Slavic traditional clothes a lot. I use them for inspiration all the time! Also insects and plants! Hoping everyone is well! ✨💖🗡💖✨ #dune #frankherbert #alia #atreides #fremen #stillsuit #arrakis #digitalart #scifi #artnouveau #artdecoA post shared by Suumum (Chezka Sunit) (@suumum) on Mar 21, 2020 at 10:50am PDT View this post on Instagram Dune Series #8 Reverend Mother Jessica (Jessica Atreides) of the Fremen of Arrakis. 🏺💧🏜 Tough day for most of us (specially if you're from where I'm at), with everything that's been happening lately. All these news surrounding this epidemic, I hope you still have it in you guys to press on for the next weeks/months. Read the rest

Send a message about how you're feeling to this website or read messages others have sent. If there are no messages sent within a 24 hour period, "This website will self destruct." From the explanation:Hi,I’m a website. I’ll be gone soon, and that’s okay.You can send me messages using the form below. If I go 24 hours without receiving a message, I’ll permanently self-destruct, and everything will be wiped from my database.That’s okay though.Until then, let me know how you’re doing. Other people will be able to read what you write, but your name or identity won’t be attached to anything, so feel free to say what’s on your mind.It’s been a rough month.With love,ThisWebsiteWillSelfdestruct (dot) comPS. I don’t collect any data about you other than the text you send me. I don’t believe in tracking people, so no analytics are kept about users. Consider this my privacy policy and terms of service. Read the rest

In this footage, the exhalations of Alpacas catch sunlight to offer the impression of fire hanging in the air. The Alpacas, lost in a moment of quiet scintillation, wonder if they are dragons. Read the rest

We all know it’s a different world out there now than the one where we made New Year’s resolutions and waited for the end of winter just a few months ago. If you weren’t a germaphobe then, it’s likely the onset of COVID-19 has at least made you much more conscious of the spread of dangerous germs and other bacterial contaminants that live in the world around us every day.And if we’re all being honest...it’s probably got you a little freaked out.The only way to combat the spread of harmful germs is to limit exposure, which is why the CleanKey Antimicrobial Brass Hand Tool was invented.The virus that causes COVID-19 can live on common surfaces for several hours or even several days, so the CleanKey helps limit the number of times you have to touch or potentially be infected by a contagious countertop, door handle or push button.The CleanKey barely measures over 3.5 inches long. Yet, by using the CleanKey to press buttons, open doors and pull levels, you reduce your point of contact area with potentially contaminated surfaces.Its ergonomic design slips into your hand comfortably and with the retractable carabiner, it hooks easily to your house keys, purse or other items.The CleanKey also works with touchscreens, allowing you to push buttons or even sign your name safely and without causing any damage to the screen.These days, every little bit of precaution helps — and it could save you from a body-wrecking illness or worse. Read the rest

Bryan Keith took a flight over the airport in Victorville, California, which has become a storage site for jumbo jets grounded for spring and likely summer too.[Victorville is] currently one of the largest airplane parking lots in the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In this video, in coordination with air traffic control (ATC), I fly a dramatic low approach in my Grumman Tiger over the closed runway that is currently home for over 400 unused jets. After that, we fly over the peak bloom of the Antelope VallHe flies over the runways four minutes in. Read the rest

A woman in North Carolina was arrested this week in November 2019 after opening fire on workers maintaining a cellular tower near her home, reports WSOC TV in Charlotte. None of the workers were hit.[The woman] was charged with assault with a deadly weapon after court documents show she fired a a 22 revolver pistol. We can hear the 911 call made from the tower this weekend where a crew of three people were doing work south of Taylorsville.The woman has prevously contacted authorities to inform them of "hearing voices from the tower", says local Sheriff Chris Bowman. Her gun is legally owned.CORRECTION: The incident happened months ago, not last week. Read the rest

Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH Hollingsworth hounds that Lucky Ducky back out to work, but you just know he'll still find a way to win

On the web, security is always critical. But when a company feels its systems have been infiltrated by a hacker or outside force, usually the only recourse is for their IT security team to start the long process of pouring over data logs, building analysis tools and rooting around for unusual behavior.Thankfully, Amazon Web Services is now helping with this laborious task with AWS Detective, a tool available to their users that uses machine learning to automate the entire search for security issues and potential breaches.It’s just another area where the web’s leading cloud services provider is pushing the boundaries of cloud-based systems. If you’ve got IT aspirations or just want to understand how cloud computing really works, The All-Level AWS Cloud Professional Bootcamp can give you the background.Across six courses with more than 30 hours of instruction, new users get a full explanation of AWS operations. Whether you have sights on a career in cloud IT or need to understand how to migrate, oversee and secure your company’s entire IT infrastructure in AWS, this package covers all the basics.The AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification Guide for Beginners gets the fundamentals out of the way, exploring the controls, formatting, and features of the AWS platform. Then AWS Master Class: Databases in the Cloud with AWS RDS and AWS MasterClass: Networking & Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) delve into what it takes to construct these bedrock cloud domains for yourself. And since every company has an app these days, AWS Deployment for Node.js Read the rest

Watch the clip embedded here, featuring a news report on a coronavirus patient broadcast by ABC News 7 in New York City. I apologize for the baity title, but cannot ruin this for you in any way. Not in the figurative sense, but in the quite literal sense. Read the rest

The Yorkshire Museum is issuing "curator battles" to to other museums. Their first salvo is #CreepiestObject. Yup, these and others in the thread, are pretty damn creepy.Our #CreepiestObject has to be this ‘mermaid’... 😱💀🧜‍♀️ #CURATORBATTLE #TroublingTaxidermy pic.twitter.com/GMSosyuqIX— Natural Sciences NMS (@NatSciNMS) April 17, 2020Thanks for thinking of us @HottyCouture and wow, will we be having nightmares tonight with all these #CreepiestObject|s ! Here is the one we just can't hide from you, one of our many creepy gems – our Plague Mask (1650/1750)! #curatorbattle pic.twitter.com/JrMjqAJSIM— Deutsches Historisches Museum (@DHMBerlin) April 17, 2020GUYS we know we have already won. This severed lower leg by Kerry Jameson has sprouted its own legs and a rather beastly head. @COCAYork #RethinkCeramics pic.twitter.com/Ip84aNacUX— York Art Gallery (@YorkArtGallery) April 17, 2020Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, we present .... MC 294No need to thank us, it was honestly our pleasure #CURATORBATTLE #CreepiestObject pic.twitter.com/kgAA2ePMIr— Egham Museum (@EghamMuseum) April 17, 2020[H/t Stacie Votaw]Image: Screengrab Read the rest

In a coronavirus briefing at the White House just now, impeached and manifestly unfit United States President Donald Trump wished North Korea's murderous dictator Kim Jong Un “good luck.” In so doing, Trump expressed greater concern for Kim than he has at any point so far for the nearly 45,000 Americans who have died of COVID-19.It's very curious, isn't it? President of the United States.Said Trump today of the North Korean leader: "I can only say this, I wish him well.""I have a very good relationship with him.".@BretBaier: "North Korea. What can you tell us about the status of Kim Jong-un?"President Trump: "We don't know...I've had a very good relationship with him...I can only say this; I wish him well."Full video here: https://t.co/5xqvbQIhJx pic.twitter.com/MivyWqW0JM— CSPAN (@cspan) April 21, 2020The president wishes Kim Jong Un good luck, following recent reports of a possible health crisis that reportedly placed him in “grave danger.” Asked about Kim Jong Un's condition, Trump says "I've had a very good relationship with him" and claims America would be at war with North Korea is he wasn't elected. He ends by bashing CNN. pic.twitter.com/A14KZlz2r9— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 21, 2020The President says he wishes Kim Jong-un good luck pic.twitter.com/SEzUh4mzA9— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) April 21, 2020Previously on Boing Boing:North Korean leader claimed to be "in grave danger" after heart operationTrump wishing murderous dictator Kim Jong Un well...says they get a long great— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) April 21, 2020TRUMP: I just have to say to Kim Jong Un, I wish him very good luck ... Read the rest

Note: Not actually a great idea to let your cat inside the dishwasher, please don't try this at home.“Places Oliver Shouldn't Be,” a delightful gallery of cat portraits by @lovethecapybara. Oliver has a very lucky human who loves him, and these are some very funny photos of a cat who enjoys being inside cozy little boxy places around the house, or maybe just nestled into a stack of frying pans or whatever.“Saw a post earlier about someone's cat being in the dishwasher licking plates and got shut inside (the cat was ok) and decided to share all the places my cat Oliver goes.”Love it. Check out the whole cute thread on IMGUR.Places Oliver Shouldn't Be Read the rest

U.S. coronavirus deaths reached 45,000 on Tuesday, doubling in a little over a week. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases climbed to more than 800,000, according to a Reuters count of available public health data. From the report:The United States has by far the world’s largest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, almost four times as many as Spain, the country with the second-highest number. Globally, cases topped 2.5 million on Tuesday, with North America accounting for one-third of all cases.Deaths increased by more than 2,600 on Tuesday alone with a few states yet to report.New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan each reported their highest single-day coronavirus-related death tolls on Tuesday - over 800 between the three states. New York state, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, reported 481 new deaths.Coronavirus-related fatalities in the United States hit a peak of 2,806 on April 15, the deadliest single day of the epidemic.U.S. cases were at 809,000, up 23,000.New reported U.S. cases appear to be slowing this week, rising by less than 30,000 a day for the past three days. The United States had a record 35,392 cases on April 4. Read more:U.S. coronavirus deaths top 45,000, doubling in little over a week: Reuters tally Read the rest

“We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time” — CDC director Robert RedfieldWinter is coming. As a number of states rush forward to reopen their economies, Director Robert Redfield of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday a likely second wave of the novel coronavirus will be far more dire, because if it hits in the winter as predicted, it will coincide with onset of flu season.“There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” CDC Director Robert Redfield told the Washington Post today. “And when I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they don’t understand what I mean.”“We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time,” he warned.Excerpt:Having two simultaneous respiratory outbreaks would put unimaginable strain on the health-care system, he said. The first wave of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, has already killed more than 42,000 people across the country. It has overwhelmed hospitals and revealed gaping shortages in test kits, ventilators and protective equipment for health-care workers.In a wide-ranging interview, Redfield said federal and state officials need to use the coming months to prepare for what lies ahead. As stay-at-home orders are lifted, officials need to stress the continued importance of social distancing, he said. They also need to massively scale up their ability to identify the infected through testing and find everyone they interact with through contact tracing. Read the rest