Boing Boing

Coronavirus package injects $321 Billion more into SBA relief program

“We immediately disabled the impacted portion of the website, addressed the issue, and relaunched the application portal.”

"There are more important things than living,” said the Lieutenant Governor of the great state of Texas about Americans who are dying of COVID-19.“There are more important things than living ... I don't want to die, nobody wants to die but man we've got to take some risks.”TX Lt Gov Dan Patrick: "There are more important things than living ... I dont want to die, nobody wants to die but man we've got to take some risks" pic.twitter.com/dRTF8Moav4— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) April 21, 2020Got it.important to clarify that when he says "we've got to take some risks" he means you...you've got to take some risks— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) April 21, 2020 Read the rest

SeinWave by AbelardIn recent weeks, I've shared the joy of Seinfeld with my teenage son. To reciprocate, he's been turning me on to the myriad incarnations of vaporwave, vaporfunk, chillwave, and other desktop electronica microgenres of the last decade. Finally, today, he decided the time was right to reveal an unholy hauntological overlap of our interests: "Seinwave" (2015) by Abelard. Listen above. From Abelard:Seinwave is a rework of the iconic slap bass infused pop-click theme of the classic Seinfeld sitcom TV show. Created on a whim, Seinwave holds its own as a funky, danceable track, exploring new melodies, sounds and hooks, whilst retaining the faded sitcom hues and tones that we all remember. Read the rest

As many of us all settle into our new home office situations, there’s a distinct possibility this could be the new status quo for quite some time. A bad chair or a less than ergonomically supportive posture might have been passable when you sat at your home office desk for an hour or two here and there, but now that it’s your home base for 8-plus hours a day, you need to be thinking about long-term comfort as well.If you’ve never experienced carpal tunnel syndrome, it’s very real — and can be very painful. Luckily, using a mouse designed to mitigate that and other awkward work postures like the Sinji Ergonomic Mouse can make that one of the new order concerns that won’t plague your day.Rather than the traditional mouse shape, the Sinji is designed vertically, a patented shape that supports your hand in an upright neutral position, reducing the rotation in your lower arm and makes your whole arm more relaxed. With that kind of support, you avoid the pain and damage that comes from the overextending and twisting that natural mouse movements put on your wrist and forearm.Created for both Mac and PC users, the wireless, battery-operated Sinji also sports adjustable buttons and LED light-emitting edging so you can see in low light situations. It even lets you adjust the speed of your cursor in case you need to speed up or low down your pace.While cars are redesigned every year with more user-friendly features, the old-school mouse design is 40 years old and played out for function, efficiency and user comfort. Read the rest

When I was in junior high school, I joined the Science Fiction Book Club. One of the books I got from the club was an anthology that included several stories by Fredric Brown (who was primarily a mystery writer but occasionally delved into science fiction). Some of Brown's stories in the anthology were a mere page or two, and I loved their humor and surprise endings. As soon as I could, I went to the Boulder Public Library to load up on as much Brown as I could find. It turned out the library had just two of his science fiction novels: Martians, Go Home (1955), and What Mad Universe (1949). They were both terrific.In Martians, Go Home a race of cartoonish little green men invade Earth for the sole purpose of being hideously bothersome pests, behaving very much like Internet trolls and Second Life griefers. (Artist Kelly Freas perfectly captured the personality of the martians in his cover painting for Astounding Science Fiction.) In What Mad Universe a man gets thrown into a parallel universe and has to figure out how to get back home. Both books are semi-parodies of science fiction novels (the protagonists in each novel are science fiction writers), with plenty of Brown's signature wry humor. If you've not read these novels, I highly recommend them both.It wasn't until I was in high school that I scored a copy of The Mind Thing (1961), which is probably my favorite Brown novel, even though it is not as well-known as the other two novels, and could be arguably be classified a horror novel. Read the rest

For tips on making your own sourdough starter, start here!My new pandemic starter has had a couple of weeks to settle down and it is performing pretty much how I would expect.Feeding your starter every day really helps it out. I've been feeding this blob since 3/16. I have reduced the amount I keep going on my counter and only feed 1/4 cup of flour and slightly less than 1/4 cup of water per feeding. This saves me ½ cup a day of precious flour.Feeding the starter twice on bread baking day really increases my chances of turning out a good loaf. I've learned that unlike my former, trusty Muir Beach starter this new Dog Town starter has an hour shorter cycle after feeding for when it is truly ready to be used, but I am figuring it out.You will find many related posts on Sourdough and baking here! Read the rest

"When they were putting a chip in your brain they sunk it deep, didn’t they?"With the help of an insider, Conan O'Brien crashed an online strategy meeting for TIBCO Software in Silicon Valley, surprising its attendees. The late-night host then proceeded to troll the Palo Alto-based company by ruthlessly roasts its CEO, its team members, and its website's corporate doublespeak. Savage! Read the rest

In the 1990s, Australian urologist Helen O'Connell performed the first magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans on aroused women's clitorises. She found that the clitoris is 10 times larger than most anyone suspected. In this video, science journalist Rachel Gross, who is currently writing a book called Lady Anatomy, shares some medical history and takes us on a tour of the "clitoral complex." "The Clitoris, Uncovered: An Intimate History" (Scientific American) Read the rest

View this post on Instagram 人肉サイコロ作りましたA post shared by doooo (@doooo_cds) on Mar 28, 2020 at 4:00am PDTArtist doooo made this die that looks like like a living eyeball inside a cube of human flesh. View this post on InstagramA post shared by doooo (@doooo_cds) on Apr 6, 2020 at 6:56am PDT Image: Instagram Read the rest

Military.com reports that a study of Chloroquine, the president's favorite quack remedy for Covid-19, didn't just fail to help sufferers. "About 28% who were given hydroxychloroquine plus usual care died, versus 11% of those getting routine care alone."Researchers analyzed medical records of 368 male veterans hospitalized with confirmed coronavirus infection at Veterans Health Administration medical centers who died or were discharged by April 11. ... Hydroxychloroquine made no difference in the need for a breathing machine, either. Researchers did not track side effects, but noted hints that hydroxychloroquine might have damaged other organs. The drug has long been known to have potentially serious side effects, including altering the heartbeat in a way that could lead to sudden death.A chloroquine study in Brazil was reportedly canceled after 11 patients died.The physicians in Brazil noticed arrhythmia (significant extension of the so-called QT interval) within two to three days in patients receiving the high dose. On the sixth day of the trial, 11 patients died and the phase II trial was stopped immediately. Read the rest

The coronavirus shutdown offers us ample time to conduct the science experiments we never had the time for before. Such as this time-lapse video, which reveals approximately how long it takes for a shitload of mealworms to eat a McDonalds Big Mac and fries. Read the rest

You are probably familiar with these little tile slide puzzles with 15 tiles that slide around in a 4 x 4 grid. The object is to slide the tiles around so that the tiles marked 1 through 15 are arranged in numerical order. The card that comes with the puzzle shows a number of different ways to arrange the numbers, including arranging the tiles in reverse numerical order. In this episode of Numberphile we learned why this particular arrangement is impossible.: YouTube Read the rest

In 1927, Henry Ford decided to build a plantation in the Amazon to supply rubber for his auto company. The result was Fordlandia, an incongruous Midwestern-style town in the tropical rainforest. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe the checkered history of Ford's curious project -- and what it revealed about his vision of society.We'll also consider some lifesaving seagulls and puzzle over a false alarm.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon! Read the rest

Coronavirus is like a big stinky onion with yet another layer just revealed: COVID toes. A symptom doctors are finding mostly in young people that causes their toes to swell, turn blue and purple, itch, burn, and become "painful to touch." According to Dr. Ebbing Lautenbach, chief of infectious disease at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine, “This is a manifestation that occurs early on in the disease, meaning, you have this first then you progress. . .Sometimes this might be your first clue that they have COVID when they don’t have any other symptoms.”From USA Today:“COVID toes” in some people can disappear in the course of a week or 10 days, while others progress to respiratory symptoms, he [Dr. Lautenbach] said.Experts say there are two running hypotheses on what could cause “COVID toes." One possible explanation, Ebbing said, could be that there is an inflammatory response more localized to a patient’s foot and toes. Or it could be a clotting of blood vessels.“The short answer is nobody knows,” he said.Dr. Susan Wilcox, chief of critical care for the emergency department at Massachusetts General Hospital, said another condition could also explain “COVID toes.”She saw the purple lesions on her most critically ill COVID patients and believed it was purpura fulminans. This occurs when inflammation from a severe infection causes the body to make micro clots in tiny blood vessels located in the toes, fingers and even nose, she explains.Ebbing warns that if you come down with this symptom, self-quarantine, no matter what your test results are -- COVID toes usually appear in the early stages of COVID-19, when patients are most likely to test false negative. Read the rest

Campus Univers Cascades (CUC) is a French school for stunt performers for film and live experiences. The coaches and students created this wonderful video titled "Fightcovid CUC." Read the rest

Family Affair by Iggy PopToday is Iggy Pop's 73rd birthday! In celebration, he released this cover of Sly & The Family Stone's classic "Family Affair" (1971). Listen above! Who's playing bass? Ah, the name is Bootsy, baby! The great Bill Laswell produced. From Pop's Bandcamp page:“To all Poptimists! [this track] made me feel good and it was good company and I hoped I could put it out and it would be good company for someone else too.”image credit: Aaron Rubin (CC BY-SA 4.0) Read the rest

From the Orphaned Wildlife Center: "To help you pass the time in your quarantine, here is a bear (Jenny) in a swing, not caring about quarantine and being oh-so-zen. Namaste my friends." Read the rest

Literally boing boing, courtesy of security camera footage compiled by police in Adelaide, South Australia. Read the rest

This is the way. Or some way, anyway. Read the rest

It's customary to jump about a third of the way into a video to get to the interesting bit. Here, you must either endure every tension-filled second of Dakidd Hilarious's physics project, or go right to the end to enjoy the results. Read the rest

Blade Runner already had a reputation for its various edits, between the theatrical cut, Ridley Scott's director's cut, and the various special editions that exist. But now filmmaker Leon Chase has taken it another step further with Blade Runner: The Lost Cut, a uniquely postmodern take on the canon. As the Verge describes it:The Lost Cut is a recut version of Blade Runner created by splicing in other films that star Blade Runner cast members, plus more films starring those films’ co-stars, resulting in a masterfully edited cinematic rabbit hole where Rick Deckard is hunting down a cast of replicants including Gene Hackman (via The Conversation, one of Harrison Ford’s first films), Steve Martin (via The Jerk,which stars M. Emmet Walsh, who plays Deckard’s boss Bryant), and John Belushi (via The Blues Brothers,which features Ford’s Star Wars co-star Carrie Fisher).The film follows Blade Runner’s broad story beats, but its narrative drifts wherever the added footage leads, like some kind of Burroughsian cut-up version of Ridley Scott’s film.It's worth noting that this mash-up masterpiece is the direct result of coronavirus quarantine. People are finding themselves with too much time on their hands … and sometimes, in a weird way, maybe that's a good thing.Watch the weird cinematic rabbit hole that is Blade Runner: The Lost Cut [Adi Robertson / The Verge] Read the rest

Klara Sjöberg bought a katana from Ali Express and recorded beautiful high-frame rate video (embedded below) of it being put through its paces.Testing a katana from Ali Express pic.twitter.com/ybarySAZQJ— Klara Sjöberg (@klara_sjo) April 20, 2020 Read the rest

Watching gender reveal videos makes me feel like a Darwinian super villain. Natural selection is real, and it has made its stance on self-important gender obsession very clear.And if you're going to be an asshole gender-obsessed parent-to-be, at least keep 6 feet apart, for everyone's sake.I can’t stop watching this...pic.twitter.com/mW4tsGqYBT— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) April 16, 2020 Read the rest

If you’ve always wanted to try your hand at designing your own video game, there’s a pretty intimidating learning curve ahead. With so many different languages, platforms and philosophies in play, it’s tough for first-timers to get a real sense of what they should tackle first.Instead of letting all that uncertainty slow you down, attack a project with a rock-solid structure that comes with a definite beginning, middle and end.Multiplayer Battle Royale games like Fortnite dominate the gaming world, so to start your education, begin by building a 3D Battle Royale style game from scratch, following every step along the way to assembling your own working game that includes everything.The Build a Battle Royale with Unity and Blender training is just that course, a beginner-friendly road map through all the steps in constructing your own immersive world gaming experience.While we’d never say a project like this is easy, this 9-level course is constructed so even first-timers can follow along, learning coding basics and all the necessary skills and steps on the journey to fleshing out your multiplayer game idea.Instructor John Bura knows what he’s talking about. A 25-year veteran of the video game industry and owner of his own game development studio Mammoth Interactive, Bura guides you through the full process. From more than 300 lectures covering more than 55 hours of content, Bura explains all the core knowledge, from coding in the C# language to navigating the Unity game engine to using the 3D modeling capabilities of Blender. Read the rest

In this helpful video, Brent of Goobertown Hobbies recreates one of his painting ah-ha moments when he first realized how to paint highlights on objects that don't have edges. Everyone new to miniature painting knows the joys of finally figuring out how to successfully paint undercoats/shading, basecoats, and highlights. And then the next level of being able to do competent edge highlighting and other final highlighting.But then there's the next level of things like painting dimensionality on large, smooth surfaces and surfaces that don't really have discernible edges. In the video, Brent shows his process for tackling this aspect of mini painting. He runs through it (using some shield-wielding Warhammer lizardmen) in a way that should make it easy for painters of any intermediate skill to master.I love Brent's calm and quiet demeanor (he's been called the Bob Ross of mini painting) and his chill approach to what can seem a daunting process: "We might not end up with exactly what we had in mind, but we'll probably end up someplace cool." Read the rest

Over the past decade or so, Lauren McLaughin (previously) has written a handful of outstanding YA novels, each dealing with difficult issues of gender, personal autonomy and the casual cruelty of teens, starting with Cycler (and its sequel, Re-Cycler) (a teenaged girl who turned into a boy for four days every month); Scored (a class-conscious surveillance dystopia); The Free (a desperate novel about a teen car-thief in juvie) and now, her best book yet: Send Pics, a gripping thriller about sextortion, high school, revenge and justice.

It's Hitler's birthday! Trump tweeted moments ago that he plans to temporarily suspend all immigration, legal or otherwise, to the U.S.In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States! Read the rest

A newspaper operated by defectors from North Korea claims that Kim Jong-Un is gravely ill following heart surgery.Daily NK, a speciality website run mostly by North Korean defectors, cited unidentified sources inside the isolated state saying Kim is recovering at a villa in the Mount Kumgang resort county of Hyangsan on the east coast after getting the procedure on April 12.CNN writes that US intelligence services are monitoring reports.Kim recently missed the celebration of his grandfather's birthday on April 15, which raised speculation about his well-being. He had been seen four days before that at a government meeting.The National Security Council and Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment when reached by CNN on Monday. CNN has also reached out to the CIA and the State Department for comment and sought comment from the South Koreans.Gathering intelligence out of North Korea is notoriously difficult -- one of the most challenging targets for US intelligence.Kim is only 36 years old, but South Korea's intelligence services claim he is increasingly obese and lives an unhealthy lifestyle of binge eating and drinking. Anna Fifield, the Washington Post's Beijing bureau chief, tweeted that his poor health is now obvious and wrote last year that he was a "heart attack waiting to happen." Read the rest

Even if you’ve been using Microsoft Office for decades, you know there’s more. And for every insider trick or time-saving tip you’ve picked up over the years, you can be sure there is a veritable fountain of execution and efficiency gems that you never knew existed in these battle-tested core productivity apps.We all know Office is never going anywhere, so you might as well start unearthing every trick and tip in the book with the training found in The All-In-One Microsoft Office Professional Suite Certification Prep Bundle.This training includes 12 courses and over 70 hours of instruction in the proper care and feeding of Office’s most popular and most productive apps. With the help of lectures, worksheets, quizzes, videos and more, you’ll expand your knowledge in five Office staples to elite level, which should help you conquer just about any business task you have ahead of you.It may seem like everyone has used Microsoft Word, but the Introduction, Intermediate and Advanced courses here break down the word processing cornerstone like never before. From formatting, headers, footers, and spell checking to placing and sizing images, wrapping text and adjusting page orientation and layout to complex bibliographies and indexes, comments and change tracking, this deep-dive explains it all.Microsoft Excel is still the spreadsheet gold standard, and the three-course collection digs into it everything, all the way up to advanced formulas and macro training that elevate data manipulation to a whole new level.The rest of the coursework includes dual-course packages delving into three more Office hotspots. Read the rest

In this episode of the 8-Bit Guy, David does a video survey of 108 types of storage media that we modern humans have used to store information.He divides the media into three categories: mechanical media, magnetic media, and optical media. He starts at the Edison Wax Cylinder and ends up at Bubble Memory.This whole episode brought back fond memories of Bruce Sterling's dead Dead Media project.Image: YouTube Read the rest

Ronan O'Rahilly, founder of Radio Caroline, the first pirate radio station off the coast of the UK has died. O'Rahilly, who lived in Ireland, died from the vascular dementia he was diagnosed with in 2013. He was 79. Here is a brief obit on BBC News.And here is a funny bit of O'Rahilly history, his 1965 appearance on "To Tell the Truth."[H/t Matthew Hawn]Image: YouTube Read the rest

The host of Project Farm compared the results of using a bunch of different knife sharpeners ranging in cost from nine dollars to $900. It turned out that the $9 sharpener was pretty good. His favorite was the Lansky sharpener, which costs about $45.From the YouTube description:Knife sharpeners tested: Lansky, Wicked Edge Gen 3 Pro, Spyderco, Fiskars, Rada, Chef's Choice Trizor Edge, Model 15XV, Edge Pro Apex, and a Whetstone. Knives used for testing: Mercer Culinary Millennia 8-Inch Chef's Knife, which were dulled, then sharpened using each knife sharpener. Stropping leather used on knives sharpened with Lansky, Wicked Edge, Spyderco, Edge Pro Apex and Whetstone. Once sharp, knives were tested using a knife sharpness tester. Image: YouTube Read the rest

Atlas Obscura recorded the sounds of Times Square, Covent Garden, Grand Central Station, LAX airport, and other formerly noisy, people and traffic filled urban spots. Now all you hear is wind, a few cars, and recorded announcements. It's like a real world adaptation of "There Will Come Soft Rains."This recording was taken at LAX airport during morning rush hour. Cars passed by strangely fast, construction crews continued to work, and the few remaining TSA agents were busy with their phones. For the hour I was there recording, nobody asked me to move my car. The vibe was creepy. There was almost no one else there, save a single traveler with a roller bag and someone collecting bottles and cans. Read the rest

Another bananas White House coronavirus press conference.

“So how were they? Not bad. Some of them were kind of dry, but for the most part they tasted how you'd expect.”An idea for coronavirus quarantine funtime in the kitchen, dear reader. Preparing each different serving suggestion on the back of the Ritz Crackers box. RECIPE RATINGS (out of 5)Burger: 4Pulled Pork: 5Strawberry Cream Cheese: 5Pepperoni Pizza: 2 (flavor was ok but it looked a mess)Guacamole: 3PB&J: 5BLT: 4Apple Cheddar: 2PB Popcorn: 3White chocco sprinkle: 4An adventure in quarantine cooking shared by IMGURian @roxisasewingmachine.I made all the serving suggestions on the Ritz box[via IMGUR] Read the rest

In honor of Super Mario Bros 35th anniversary of the video game (released in 1985, two years after the arcade game launched), here's an amazing stop motion animation of the game in action. It took BigWendy over a week to create, using over 500 Rubik Cubes. Read the rest

“They want us to where a face mask??? I DONT THANK SO.”“I'm not gonna be ruled by common sense precautions to keep everyone safe and healthy!”Brent Terhune does a very good Southern Redneck Guy Who Watches Fox News, and he's recently taken on the MAGA/White Nationalist/???? types gathering in weird astroturfy rallies around the U.S., which may or may not be funded by some political group or something.More of Brent's very spot-on recent work below.‘I’m not going to be ruled by commonsense precautions’ — Comedian @BrentTerhune hilariously spoofed Trump supporters who refuse to wear masks pic.twitter.com/CIiBDsXWAj— NowThis (@nowthisnews) April 20, 2020This stay at home order is BULLSHIT pic.twitter.com/bvDvD3pbBt— Brent Terhune (@BrentTerhune) April 16, 2020 Read the rest

According to the suggestions of a professional golfer whose video was tweeted today by Donald Trump's companies, drinking an entire bottle of vodka every day will 'kill' coronavirus. There's only one problem with this advice: it is not true, and may harm you.Here's the original video.A big thank you to @PGA_JohnDaly who has always been one of our biggest fans. John thank you for the friendship. Everyone at @TrumpGolf truly loves you! #StaySafe #AmericaTogether pic.twitter.com/coWifMSa3W— Trump Golf (@TrumpGolf) April 9, 2020Drinking alcohol does not provide any protection against coronavirus and COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization. Heavy drinking can weaken the immune system, says the WHO.Excerpt:Trump’s golf business has been posting videos to Twitter in which home-bound pro golfers, including Daly, praise Trump’s courses as their “home away from home.” Daly played golf with the president in the summer and visited the White House in 2017.In his video, first reported by Golfweek, the famously hard-living and hard-drinking golfer said he hoped that viewers would “be healthy and be smart,” and that they could return to playing golf again soon.Then Daly continued: “But I kind of got a cure for this. I only drink one drink a day, it just happens to be a bottle. Of good old Belvedere.” He showed the camera a full bottle of the Polish vodka.“You know, you just drink one of these a day — you know, sippy-sippy on a little McDonald’s Diet Coke, you know, wash it down pretty good. Read the rest

I really don't know what to say here. This is so demented, and so awful, I just can't even.Natalie Allison, who reports on state politics for The Tennessean and USA TODAY, attended one of those weird astroturfy coronavirus rallies where MAGA types and white nationalists are fighting against the stay-at-home measures intended to slow the spread of COVID-19. This one guy:Today’s reopen rally organizer Steve Hasty of Murfreesboro says what he misses most is sitting in restaurants and getting free drink refills.“I hate having to get two iced teas in the drive thru,” he saysWOW.Today’s reopen rally organizer Steve Hasty of Murfreesboro says what he misses most is sitting in restaurants and getting free drink refills.“I hate having to get two iced teas in the drive thru,” he says. pic.twitter.com/373qBIeHof— Natalie Allison (@natalie_allison) April 20, 2020Here's her thread, and these are all her photos.Much smaller crowd at the Tennessee Capitol today for the reopen rally, but @RepMartinDaniel is in attendance. He’s one of at least 2 other legislators who have sent letters to @GovBillLee asking him to lift restrictions. (Lee has set May 1 as tentative start date for that) pic.twitter.com/rxRGrIC1x6— Natalie Allison (@natalie_allison) April 20, 2020This woman, Misty Smith, is a home health nurse in Nashville but she is announcing that “all our hospitals are sitting empty.” (Tennessee reports there have been 724 coronavirus hospitalizations) pic.twitter.com/ht0vwktIPe— Natalie Allison (@natalie_allison) April 20, 2020This lady is yelling toward the Tennessee Capitol at @GovBillLee, trying to compare the coronavirus shutdown to the Holocaust. Read the rest

Your “work routine” is likely in shambles. Between working from home and all that entails and the broken habits you built before while heading into the office every day, your work rhythm probably looks a lot different than it did two months ago.So if you’re already making changes, it might be time to consider another colossal shift in your status quo. Like...have you ever thought about getting a standing desk? Standing at a desk while working rather than sitting for three hours has been shown to burn almost 170 extra calories. There’s also evidence standing can lower your blood sugar, lower your risk of heart disease, and significantly reduce back pain. Armed with all that knowledge, the Stan Desk Adjustable Standing Desk could not only be a great way to shake up your workspace but actually improve your overall health and well-being.The Stan Desk is designed for laptop users with a variety of height adjustments and shelving slots to help you achieve your ideal posture. The whole thing comes together in about 30 seconds, and once you perch it on top of a regular office desk, you can hit just the configuration that works best for you.The sturdy wooden construction ensures you’ll get years of use out of your Stan Desk and its signature minimalist hourglass design. At just 11 pounds, it’s ultra-portable, so whether you’re at home or back in the office one day, your standing desk can start becoming your new normal.Beyond the physical health benefits, the standing desk allows oxygen-rich blood to flow to the areas of your brain that release endorphins and serotonin. Read the rest

Fandango dang sure isn't selling movie theater tickets anymore. And Walmart appears to be easing out of the video-on-demand business, and into... something else.On Monday, Walmart's video-on-demand service Vudu announced it will be acquired by Fandango Media, the online movie ticketing service owned by beloathed cable and internet access behemoth Comcast.Here's the official announcement on the Vudu Customer Help website: “Fandango to Purchase Vudu.”From Reuters:Walmart bought Vudu over a decade ago, but the service, which allows customers to either buy or rent movies and TV shows, still lags far behind the monthly viewership numbers that competitors Netflix Inc and Hulu pull in.But Comcast is betting it can give the site a boost with Fandango, as the loss of cable TV subscribers forces it to focus its future around its internet business. (...)Vudu, which also offers a free ad-supported streaming option, said here it will not be shutting down and will still operate separately from the FandangoNow pay-per-view service. More at Reuters.Observations from reporters and links to related early news coverage, below.Fandango plans to maintain a Vudu office in the Sunnyvale, Calif., area and Fandango will be making job offers to the majority of Vudu employees https://t.co/W81O3Yj9T1— Todd Spangler (@xpangler) April 20, 2020There’s no indication yet if, or how, Comcast’s various streaming platforms (Peacock, FandangoNow, Xumo and now Vudu) will coexist https://t.co/yRVDnZw3UV— Jason Lynch (@jasonlynch) April 20, 2020Fandango will buy Vudu, Walmart's movies-on-demand service https://t.co/ugthnHl4QS— LAT Entertainment (@latimesent) April 20, 2020Fandango can't sell you movie tickets right now but it can rent you digital movies. Read the rest

Samaritan's Purse is the Evangelical humanitarian aid organization behind the emergency pop-up coronavirus hospital that's set up shop in Central Park to help with overflow from other health facilities, specifically New York's Mount Sinai. In addition to the 14 tent, 68-bed field hospital in New York, the group also dispatched 60 disaster response specialists with 20 tons of medical equipment to help address the disaster response in Cremona, Italy.On the surface level, this is largely good; hospitals are crowded and medical workers are overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic.But it gets complicated when you factor in the group's founder: Franklin Graham, son of the infamous Evangelical fire-and-brimstone preacher Billy Graham. And lest you were hoping that the Graham apple had fallen far from the tree, Franklin is in fact a bit of an Endtimes Obsessive, who of course has a history of saying terrible things about Islam (particularly as it relates to Barack Obama) as well as Hinduism. Unsurprisingly, he's a hardcore Trumper, too, as well as an advocate for the s0-called gay conversion therapy that is unquestionably a form a psychological abuse. He's even praised Putin's anti-LGBTQ authoritarianism. In Franklin Graham's own words from 2014:It’s obvious that President Obama and his administration are pushing the gay-lesbian agenda in America today and have sold themselves completely to that which is contrary to God’s teaching.[…]Isn’t it sad, though, that America’s own morality has fallen so far that on this issue—protecting children from any homosexual agenda or propaganda—Russia’s standard is higher than our own? Read the rest

Creativity has no bounds when you're shut in your house for weeks on end. I only wonder how he has three rolls of toilet paper to spare. Read the rest

Spoken Word with Electronics is an audio series delivering to you a two side recording of unusual stories paired with vintage modular electronic soundsGreetings, all. To make this more like a proper series, I've expanded these posts into a more traditional radio segment format. You'll find a completely audio version in the playlist.In 1942, Mel Blanc screamed about food hoarding in a Warner Brothers animated short, "Foney Fables". I was pleased to see the cartoon is in the public domain – Meaning you can do whatever you'd like with much of it.THIS WEEK: Episode 6, "Food Hoarding with Mel Blanc"I'll post the download links for the "Food Hoarder" sample in the comments.Back next week. Have a happy hoarding, Ethan (Bandcamp/Soundcloud) Read the rest

Bruce Lee's 1970s films have entered the realm of cinematic fine art. The Criterion Collection is releasing a Bruce Lee seven-disc Blu-Ray box set appropriately titled "His Greatest Hits." Included are The Big Boss (1971), Fist of Fury (1972), The Way of the Dragon (1972), Enter the Dragon (1973), and Game of Death (1978). Never take your eyes off your opponent, even when you're bowing. Here's what's included in Bruce Lee: His Greatest Hits:4K digital restorations of The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, Game of Death, and The Way of the Dragon, with uncompressed original monaural soundtracks; New 2K digital restoration of the rarely-seen 99-minute 1973 theatrical version of Enter the Dragon, with uncompressed original monaural soundtrack; 2K digital restoration of the 102-minute “special-edition” version of Enter the Dragon; Alternate audio soundtracks for the films, including original English-dubbed tracks and a 5.1 surround soundtrack for the special-edition version of Enter the Dragon; Six audio commentaries: on The Big Boss by Bruce Lee expert Brandon Bentley; on The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, Game of Death, and The Way of the Dragon by Hong Kong–film expert Mike Leeder; and on the special-edition version of Enter the Dragon by producer Paul Heller; High-definition presentation of Game of Death II, the 1981 sequel to Game of Death; Game of Death Redux, a new presentation of Lee’s original Game of Death footage, produced by Alan Canvan; New interviews on all five films with Lee biographer Matthew Polly; New interview with producer Andre Morgan about Golden Harvest, the company behind Hong Kong’s top martial-arts stars, including Lee; New program about English-language dubbing with voice performers Michael Kaye (the English-speaking voice of Lee’s Chen Zhen in Fist of Fury) and Vaughan Savidge; New interview with author Grady Hendrix about the “Bruceploitation” subgenre that followed Lee’s death, and a selection of Bruceploitation trailers; Blood and Steel, a 2004 documentary about the making of Enter the Dragon; Multiple programs and documentaries about Lee’s life and philosophies, including Bruce Lee: The Man and the Legend (1973) and Bruce Lee: In His Own Words (1998); Interviews with Linda Lee Cadwell, Lee’s widow, and many of Lee’s collaborators and admirers, including actors Jon T. Read the rest

On the YouTube description of the latest episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: "As COVID-19 continues to dominate the news cycle, John Oliver looks at the various sources of misinformation about the disease - from televangelists and the right wing media, to President Trump himself."If you want to see something really scary, scroll to 3:30 in the video. (That's Kenneth Copeland by the way, who is worth $300 million and owns a $260,000 Maserati). Read the rest

In March 1978, the wonderful Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) presented a screening of Eraserhead followed by a Q&A with director David Lynch. BAMPFA just recently digitized the cassette and shared it for all to enjoy. Read the rest

On his Pluralistic blog, Cory Doctorow reports that the Zoom teleconferencing system purportedly uses artificial intelligence to detect naked people to block the video. He says "I think that Zoom is probably bullshitting about using machine learning to catch nudity." That makes sense, because how can you detect the content of a video stream if, as Zoom promises, the signal is encrypted end-to-end? Cory also looks at the reasons why pornography always seems to be one of the early use cases in any new technology:The thing is, when a new communications technology comes along, the people who have the most incentive to figure out how to use it are the people for whom the existing technology channels are not working....It's also why everyone else whose communications are disfavored, surveilled or blocked adopt technology.It's what political radicals, kids, religious extremists, terrorists, conspiracists, and criminals all have in common: using the established communications channels is expensive for them, so it's worth expending the effort to master the new ones. Read the rest

In Stockton, California, KCRA's Melinda Meza did a live TV segment about hairstyling on location in her home bathroom. Special guest star: her naked partner in the shower. Read the rest