Boing Boing

'Smallpox comes to Deadwood', a clip from the swearily beloved television series DEADWOOD, via Reddit, as pointed out by Helen Kennedy.An instructive video for our times.[YOUTUBE] Read the rest

Glover, Vermont’s eminently arcane Museum of Everyday Life is seeking submissions from “artists, philosophers, collectors, and ordinary people” for their 2020-2021 exhibition on knots.This is a self-service museum ("turn on the lights when you enter, and don’t forget to turn off the lights when you depart!") housed in a dilapidated barn in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, 30 miles south of the Candadian border. It's a cabinet of curiosities for the ordinary, with previous exhibitions such as "The Incredible Story of the Safety Pin," "A Celebration of the Match," and “Toothbrush from Twig to Bristle in All its Expedient Beauty.” They've mounted puppet shows, indulge in cantastoria, put on parades, and dabble in toy theater, and they even pushed their own boundaries with their 2015 exhibition, "Dust." Their current exhibition through May, “The Pivot and the Blade” explores scissors. Read the rest

Yes, even air purifiers are smarter than people now. While you thought sucking particulates out of the air and generally scrubbing the breathable space in your home or office was responsibility enough, smart technology has moved into air purification — so now, purifiers can take on tasks they’ve never faced before.The Wynd Essential is part of this opening wave of smart-enabled air purifiers — and it’s easy to see why the size and versatility of this mighty little unit could make it a key item for those concerned about the air they breathe, a group which should include virtually everybody.As a purifier alone, the Wynd Essential has its credentials intact. Initially funded by a Kickstarter campaign, the Wynd Essential sports a medical-grade filter based on materials used in hospitals. With a turbo-charged airflow designed by an MIT-trained rocket scientist, this filter generates over 9 liters of clean air per second and captures 99 percent of air particles over 0.3 microns. That includes everything from pollen and pet dander to bacteria and industrial pollution particulates.The filter is also infused with silver, which kills organic organisms like mold and bacteria on contact.The extreme portability is another of the Wynd Essential’s major calling cards. Weighing less than a pound and no bigger than a water bottle, the whole unit can sit unobtrusively in virtually any environment from a car cup holder to your office to a baby’s room. It also stores easily in a suitcase or travel bag when you’re on the road, so you’re ready to scrub the air whether you’re traveling on a plane or staying in a hotel room. Read the rest

If you weren’t yet panicking about the coronavirus, this week’s tabloids will have you stocking up on Depends adult underwear, toilet tissue and face-masks.

From business to science to sports, data can help answer virtually any unknown question. And if it can’t, it can certainly point you in the right direction. And with every company and organization looking for facts to validate their decisions, the job prospects of a well-qualified data scientist to sort all those numbers out are unequivocally bright.According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job market is expected to welcome another 364,000 data analyst positions to the workforce this year. With that much opportunity, the prospects of launching an in-demand, well-paying career as a data pro are abundant. The 2020 All-in-One Data Scientist Mega Bundle offers the training to make that career happen.The coursework in this massive 13-course, 140-plus hour training package begins by introducing newbies to the basics of data analytics, including everything from the guidelines for defining a data problem to the tools available for finding a solution.And those tools are plentiful and speak volumes...if you know how to use them, that is. From Hadoop to Apache Spark to MongoDB, students get a complete look at the data organization and app-building tools that are the bread and butter of any data science career. There’s also a deep plunge into data visualization capabilities using the industry’s most popular data mapping tool, Tableau 10.Still, more courses are focused on coding languages that particularly impact data analysis, including training in Python and R programming. If your interests run toward the business aspects of Big Data, the Business Analytics with Excel course shows how that venerable spreadsheet program can play an elemental role. Read the rest

SXSW, Austin's annual festival for music, tech, business, art, and culture was canceled by the mayor because of the spreading coronavirus. By the festival producers' own calculation, SXSW pumped $350 million into Austin it 2018, $356 million in 2019.The Austin American Statesman has more:The cancellation — just seven days before the 2020 festival was scheduled to start next Friday — comes as SXSW organizers faced public pressure to scrap it, as well the prospect of a substantially diminished event anyway because a lengthy list of companies and speakers already dropped out.The cancellation constitutes a financial hit to downtown restaurants, bars, hotels and other businesses, many of which have come to count on free-spending attendees of the sprawling yearly conference.It also could be a big blow for SXSW itself, a private company that has held the event since 1987, depending on its insurance coverage and how it opts to handle possible requests for refunds. Read the rest

On Twitter, Lorenzo the Cat posted this pic of cute kitty posters being pasted over racist graffiti in Manchester, England. You DO follow Lorenzo the Cat on Twitter, don't you?Signs being posted all over Manchester, England. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/szbFsdsS4Q— Lorenzo The Cat (@LorenzoTheCat) March 4, 2020Image: Twitter screengrab Read the rest

As you may know, YouTuber and Queen of Shitty Robots (and other sketchy maker projects), Simone Giertz, had to have brain surgery a year ago. One thing she acquired during this scary ordeal was a collection of MRI scans of her own brain.What to do with these scans? Well, make a brass paper shredder in the shape of your own brain, obviously! As Simone explains, the idea was to make such a machine so that she could feed her hopes and dreams into it and have them shredded. Dark, Simone. Dark.[Image: YouTube] Read the rest

Capsule toys from vending machines are a big deal in Japan, often putting our less-inspired ones to shame. Case in point, these new miniature figures introduced by the Tama-Kyu company, that depict people who are intoxicated in public!SoraNews24 reports:The series, named #YopparaiNau (Drunk Now), is made up of five different lushes, each in a different predicament and measuring about five centimeters (two inches) in height.All the greatest hits are there:...“Person Wearing a Pylon” ...“Person Sleeping on the Side of the Road” ...“Person Hugging a Telephone Pole” ...“Person Hugging a Telephone Pole” ...“Person who Needs a Waste Basket.”The cost? 300 yen (approx. US $2.72) each.Get a closer look at all five figurines at SoraNews24.Thanks, Lynn!images via PR Times Read the rest

Why don't more American homes have a bidet? Sure, it may seem odd at first, but travel around the rest of the world, from Europe to Asia and beyond, and those happy little spritzers are standard issue in practically every home. Considering what a clean-freak, germ-phobic society America has become, it's truly puzzling that this ultra-sanitary process hasn't broken through in the States. And don't even get us started on the green impact of phasing out all that toilet paper.Well, it's time for you to be the change. No, seriously. It's time to step up, be counted and push the United States into the pristinely clean, uber-washed land it was always meant to be. And that crusade starts right on your very own home throne.Check out this batch of bidet options, which should include at least one that fits your situation. C'mon...you know you want to.SlimGlow: The World's First Bidet Attachment Featuring a Night Light - $49.99; Originally $79If you just want to check out what the bidet life could be like, this starter option could give you a hint of the pleasures. The SlimGlow gets the job done with a comfort grip pressure control knob and dual nozzle cleansing action. It even features an incline that matches your natural body position and a soft blue light so you'll always be able to find your way in the middle of the night.Alpha One V2 Bidet Seat - $72.99; Originally $199The Alpha One V2 attaches easily to your current bowl and features a pair of retractable, self-cleaning dual nozzles. Read the rest

For those of you who enjoyed "These boxes aren't rotating" from earlier this week... These gears aren't spinning either. I promise. You are experiencing the "reverse-phi" illusion. Read the rest

I mostly credit cartoons for my appreciation of classical music. In this video pianist Lord Vinheteiro plays through a survey of cartoon music from 1928 to the current era. No, it isn't comprehensive, but it's still a wonderful medley! Read the rest

I bought this Inateck Laptop Sleeve Case for my 13-inch MacBook Pro. I wanted something well-padded, with a handle and a separate pouch to store the charger. This one fit the bill. It's not much bigger than than the laptop, so it doesn't take up a lot of room in a suitcase. Read the rest

Nina Kollars is a professor at the Naval War College inside the Strategic and Operational Research Department. Here she is at DEF CON 27 explaining how she learned about triangulation fraud when she started buying Nespresso pods on eBay at a discount. Not only did she get the pods, she also received a new Nespresso machine worth $280. It sounds like a good deal, right? As you'll learn as Kollars tells her fascinating story, it wasn't a great deal -- it was a scam.[via Dooby Brain] Read the rest

A pickup truck crashed into one of Easter Island's iconic moai statues, carved by the Rapa Nui people circa 1400 to 1650 AD. Police arrested a Chilean inhabitant whose truck apparently caused "incalculable" damage to the head. Since 2012, the Polynesian island's population has increased from 8,000 to 12,000 and tourism has skyrocketed. From The Guardian:Camilo Rapu, the president of the Ma’u Henua community, which looks after the moai, said the crash may have been deliberate.“As people know, the moai are sacred structures that possess a religious value for the people of Rapa Nui,” he said. “Something like this isn’t just dreadful, it’s an offence against a living culture that has spent the last few years fighting to regain its historic and archaeological heritage.”The island’s mayor, Pedro Edmunds Paoa, told El Mercurio the collision appeared to have been the result of brake failure. He said the incident demonstrated the need for stricter traffic controls.He previously told the paper: “Everyone decided against establishing traffic rules when it came to vehicles on sacred sites – but we, as a council, were talking about the dangers and knew very well what the rise in tourist and resident numbers could mean.”image credit: Ian Sewell (CC BY 2.5) Read the rest

My guest this week on the Cool Tools podcast is Amber Mac. Amber is the co-host of the award-winning podcast series, The AI Effect, the author of two bestselling business books. She's also the President of AmberMac Media, and a former host on G4TechTV and TWiT.See the show notes here. Read the rest

Simon Niklaus, Long Mai, Jimei Yang, and Feng Liu developed software that gives a 3D Ken Burns effect to still images.From their paper:Experiments with a wide variety of image content show that our method enables realistic synthesis results. Our study demonstrates that our system allows users to achieve better results while requiring little effort compared to existing solutions for the 3D Ken Burns effect creation.Photo by Pontus Wellgraf on Unsplash[via Bruce Sterling] Read the rest

Jack Nitzsche was a legend in his own time; an arranger, producer, songwriter, and Academy Award-winning composer. His disparate discography includes collaborations with Phil Spector, the iconic 1966 Batman theme, titles by The Rolling Stones, Doris Day, Ike & Tina Turner, The Monkees, Glen Campbell, and the Ronettes, as well as several film soundtracks, including Performance, The Exorcist, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and An Officer and a Gentleman. But one of his earliest known arrangements was for a song so unlistenable it isn’t even named on any of his published discographies.The title dates from 1963, when a hit song that doubled as a dance craze was the holy grail of the Top 10. But not even the hand of Jack Nitzsche could get this eminently abrasive earworm, "The Fuddy Duddy Walk" by The Entertainers, to join the ranks of "The Twist," "The Mashed Potato," or "The Watusi." "The Fuddy Duddy Walk" is more like proto-punk dance craze anarchy, and it’s not hard to imagine a crowd of pencil-skirted and flat-topped teens covering their ears in buzzkill horror, stampeding from the dance floor and fighting their way to the nearest exit. It’s an aural assault strictly for music masochists, with a nearly unintelligible vocal that codes neither male or female, rock or soul, black or white. Just sweetly painful. Read the rest

it's a spaceship until you see the picture upside down.This is cool - someone took a photo of UFO hovering over the scene of an accident. If you rotate the photo 180 degrees, it almost looks like the UFO is a car in a lake. Read the rest

Promobot created an Arnold Schwarzenegger robot -- an animatronic head, really -- and told journos they had permission from the actor and former California governor. They didn't, Schwarzenegger says, and he's suing them.The actor’s team hit Promobot with a cease-and-desist after CES and was reportedly assured the company would stop touring its Arnold bot. That didn’t happen, though. Promobot showed off the lifelike replica again the following month at the New York Toy Fair. And, to top it all off, this all comes after Promobot was personally shut down by Schwarzenegger in St. Petersburg in 2019. According to TMZ, the company attended a speech he was delivering and asked the actor to pose for a photo with the robot. He flat-out declined. Read the rest

I prefer this to the real thing. The cartoon fun is infectious and, well, nobody dies.More thrills at 3Dbotmaker, home to 1:64 Diecast Sports Action Racing!(Jalopnik) Read the rest

The excellent headline "Fursuit of Happiness" belies the seriousness of the topic: how do furries fare in therapy? Professionals find that it's best to bring along the fursona rather than put it aside on the couch, writes Hussein Kesvani.According to Sharon Roberts, a sociology professor at the University of Waterloo and one of the few researchers who focuses on identity within furry communities, Max’s therapy experience is pretty common. “There are some psychologists who associate fursonas with dissociative behavior, which by and large isn’t the case,” she explains. “In other cases, because of the aesthetic of furries — that they’re a colorful and quite loud subculture — society generally sees them as more likely to suffer from mental health issues, when the research shows that’s not true either. In a lot of cases, furries are less likely to develop severe mental health conditions because of how strong the bonds are in the community.”To better spread (and back up) this message, Roberts co-founded the International Anthropomorphic Research Project, a collective of academics dedicated to producing evidence-based research on furry culture and providing insights about it to therapists.Photo: Rob Beschizza (CC BY 3.0) Read the rest

He's just so stupid. Trump does not know how many people have died in the United States from coronavirus and COVID-19. The answer, for now, is 14.President Trump doesn't know what the US death roll from coronavirus is (it's actually 14) pic.twitter.com/EG4vnYw4we— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 6, 2020Also why was a Murdoch in the room when he signed the coronavirus $8.3 billion spending bill?News Corp exec Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert's son, was in the Oval during Trump's signing of $8 billion coronavirus emergency funding bill.— David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) March 6, 2020 Read the rest

What's the world's best cheese? A gruyere from Switzerland, selected from a record-breaking number of entries from 26 countries in the 2020 World Championship Cheese Contest in Wisconsin. From the Wisconsin State Journal: “This is quite a good cheese,” said Stefan Truttmann, who happily accepted the award when a Gruyere from Switzerland was named the 2020 World Champion Cheese Thursday night at the World Championship Cheese Contest at Monona Terrace.The cheese from Bern, Switzerland, topped the field at the biennial contest and made a two-time winner out of its maker, Michael Spycher of Mountain Dairy Fritzenhaus for Gourmino AG. Spycher’s Gruyere also won in 2008.Truttmann and Christian Schmutz, who were contest judges, accepted the award on behalf of the Swiss cheese makers’ association and hoisted the 77-pound wheel in victory.From the Associated Press:The contest is the largest technical cheese, butter and yogurt competition in the world and started Tuesday in Madison with a record 3,667 entries.The 55 judges taste, sniff and inspect the 132 classes of dairy products during the biennial contest. The judges include cheese graders, cheese buyers, dairy science professors, and researchers from 19 nations and 14 states. PREVIOUSLY AT BOING BOING:Largest technical dairy competition in world opens in WisconsinRead more:Swiss gruyere named best in world cheese competition[apnews.com]And from the Wisconsin State Journal:Swiss cheese comes out on top at World Cheese Championship in Madison Read the rest

"Cute otters," promises Britain's public broadcaster, "Intimately filmed by spy cameras."Spy Otter quietly films the most intimate views of otters using tools and caring for their young. Animatronic spy creatures go undercover to explore the world of animal intelligence and reveal their use of tools, self-medication, culture and subterfuge. Read the rest

'Rule will require immigration officers to collect cheek swabs from what could amount to hundreds of thousands of people a year '

Impeached and manifestly corrupt U.S. president President Donald John Trump on Friday signed the $8.3-billion Coronavirus response funding bill before leaving the White House for golf or whatever.The spending bill to combat the outbreak passed the House and Senate nearly unanimously.In related news, Trump, a noted germophobe, has called off a planned trip to the Atlanta headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.Trump said on Friday he called off the CDC trip to Atlanta because of a suspected case of coronavirus there, which ended up coming back negative.With @SecAzar at his side in the Diplomatic Reception Room, Pres Trump has signed the $8.3-billion Coronavirus response funding bill. Bill passed by near unanimous margins in both Chambers of Congress this week.— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) March 6, 2020Happening today: #Trump preparing to sign $8 billion #Coronavirus aid package this AM. Coronavirus task force has #WhiteHouse briefing on preparations at 5 PM pic.twitter.com/gLU8POcEJt— Nancy Ognanovich (@NOgnanovich) March 6, 2020Also, @realDonaldTrump just tossed @steveholland1 the pen he used to sign the coronavirus spending bill. Steve caught it expertly. Trump says it’s the first time he’s ever done that.— Philip Crowther (@PhilipinDC) March 6, 2020Trump shows off the signed coronavirus supplemental spending bill. pic.twitter.com/MAym2pIdo0— Philip Crowther (@PhilipinDC) March 6, 2020Trump says he "may be going" to the CDC after all today -- he said the agency thought they may have had a case of coronavirus, suggesting that's why the White House canceled his expected trip. Read the rest

The number of people around the world who are infected with the new coronavirus is close to 100,000 as of Friday, according to global health officials. In the United States, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases is now 226 in 19 states, including 12 deaths.The virus that causes the potentially deadly respiratory illness COVID-19 has now infected people in about 90 countries. On Friday, the first cases were reported in the Netherlands and Cameroon.From the Associated Press's roundup of the disease spread on Friday:The head of the U.N.’s food agency, the World Food Program, warned of the potential of “absolute devastation” as the outbreak’s effects ripple through Africa and the Middle East. (...)And in the United States, more than 230 cases were stirring anxiety around the country, nowhere more than its northwestern corner in Washington state, where officials are so concerned about having space to care for the sick they were expected to close a $4 million deal Friday to take over a roadside motel. (...)The 100,000 figure of infections — likely to be passed on Friday — is largely symbolic, but a milestone nonetheless. Other major outbreaks in recent decades, including SARS and MERS, affected far fewer people but had a higher mortality rate.More at AP. [image of the coronavirus via CDC] Read the rest

From the Vocal Synthesis channel: "The voice in this video was entirely computer-generated using a text-to-speech model trained on the speech patterns of John F. Kennedy." Read the rest

“Before Clearview Became a Police Tool, It Was a Secret Plaything of the Rich.” That's the title of the New York Times piece, and that's the horrifying reality of how artificial intelligence and facial recognition are already being used in ways that violate your expectations of privacy in the world. Investors and clients of the facial recognition start-up with ties to the extreme right used an early version of the Clearview AI app on dates and at parties — “and to spy on the public.”At one time, Clearview AI was trying to put together a nationwide repository of mug shots from the last 15 years. One rich guy used it to do a background check on a man his daughter was having dinner with in a restaurant where he was also eating. He also used it to catch people stealing Haagen-Dazs ice cream from his grocery store locations.The New York Times identified “multiple individuals with active access to Clearview’s technology who are not law enforcement officials.”From the story:And for more than a year before the company became the subject of public scrutiny, the app had been freely used in the wild by the company’s investors, clients and friends.Those with Clearview logins used facial recognition at parties, on dates and at business gatherings, giving demonstrations of its power for fun or using it to identify people whose names they didn’t know or couldn’t recall.“As part of the ordinary course of due diligence, we provided trial accounts to potential and current investors, and other strategic partners, so they could test the technology,” said Hoan Ton-That, the company’s co-founder. Read the rest

• Criminals are tricking people who want to buy protective masksIn the United Kingdom, vulnerable people who are afraid of coronavirus have lost more than 800,000 british pounds ($1 million in US dollars) to coronavirus scams in the last month.One victim paid 15,000 pounds for anti-coronavirus masks that never arrived. Britain's National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) said on Friday there have been 21 reports of fraud since February 10, mostly mask scams. More from Reuters:Britain has so far registered 115 cases of the coronavirus known as COVID-19, which has killed more than 3,300 people globally since it started in China. On Thursday, health officials reported the first death of a patient in Britain who had tested positive for the virus.Demand for face masks has surged in North America, India, China and Europe since the outbreak of the virus, with Washington considering invoking special powers to boost the production of masks and other protective gear.Britain’s competition watchdog warned retailers about price hiking on highly sought-after goods during the outbreak as the price of disinfectants and hand sanitizers online soared to as much as 40 times normal rates. Read more at Reuters:Coronavirus fraud: UK victims lose 800,000 pounds in scams Read the rest

If you've ever tried to create swapable arms and weapons on gaming miniatures, using rare earth magnets, you know what a hassle it can be. Great idea, not fun to implement. In 2018, a Kickstarter called Hand of Glory raised $156,000 to create a line of hot-swapable fantasy miniatures. With a collection of figures outfitted with rare earth magnet wrists and a line of weapons and other accessories, you could mix and match to create unique miniatures tailored to your game. Hand of Glory is back with another campaign to add more figures and tons more weapons and accessory options to the line.The folks at Hand of Glory were kind enough to send me a sample box of minis and weapons. The minis are wonderfully sculpted and the weapons and other components are varied and characterful. Hand of Glory 2 introduces 11 new figures and over 100 new weapons and other items. Among the new additions are chain-based weapons and animal figures on chain leashes. I have never played a game using magnetized minis, so I can't judge how fussy the process is of changing out parts on the fly, or how often things fall off. The magnets do seem strong, but I did notice that some of the bigger, heavier weapons sometimes pivot on the magnetic wrist as you move the figure and "go limp," not something you ever want your scary, intimidating weapon to do. But this is a minor quibble.With so many people using miniatures in RPGs these days, and so many cool "miniature agnostic" fantasy skirmish games out there, these sort of modular, design-your-own minis make a lot of sense. Read the rest

\_^◉ᴥ◉^_/ Read the rest

What falls under the heading of digital marketing these days? Well, frankly...a heck of a lot. Once you start factoring in everything from search engines and social media to emails and the vast network of websites out there and before you know it, it’s easy for new digital media creators to get overwhelmed quickly.But with retail eCommerce expected to amount to $4.5 trillion next year, it’s way too important to ignore. So with that much at stake, it’s vital to know your stuff. The massive block of training available in The 2020 Complete Digital Marketing for Beginners Bundle will go a long way toward helping growing digital professionals understand the landscape and get their arms around everything it entails.And trust in this...this collection is absolutely comprehensive. Featuring a whopping 14 courses packed with more than 100 hours of instruction, your digital marketing career will start the right way with full introductions to social media marketing, SEO, email outreach, paid ads, content creation and more.After courses in the fine art of sales and negotiating as well as digital media basic learning covering blogging and creating the right content around your marketing efforts, the coursework starts to delve into all the most important venues for your messaging.Since social media is where so many modern shoppers live, you’ll get in-depth guides to reaching audiences on some of the most vital platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. You’ll even get training in using the exploding viral video environment of TikTok to maximize your reach. Read the rest

'The skeleton has not been located.'

In Port Arthur, Texas, a 24-year-old man was sentenced to 30 days in jail for posting a video last August to social media of himself taking ice cream out of a Walmart freezer, licking the ice cream like a complete jerk, then returning the container to the freezer.From AP:D’Adrien Anderson, 24, also was sentenced to an additional six-month jail term probated for two years and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $1,565 in restitution to Blue Bell Creameries, which had to replace all of its products in the freezer.Anderson began serving his jail term immediately after sentencing.Here is the original story with the gross video. Read the rest

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control said Thursday that more than 200 people are infected with coronavirus in the country, and 12 people have died of the respiratory disease it causes, COVID-19.Some 70 of those U.S. cases are in Washington state, which has become a hotspot in the global outbreak.Vice President Mike Pence, whom president Trump named coronavirus czar, today said “we don't have enough test today” to meet imminent coronavirus screening needs.“The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed and sent to President Donald Trump an $8.3 billion funding bill to help state and local governments combat the spreading coronavirus, as public health experts outlined efforts to rapidly accelerate testing for the disease,” Reuters reports late this afternoon:By a vote of 96-1, the Senate approved legislation that was overwhelmingly passed on Wednesday by the House of Representatives.Republican Senator Rand Paul, who objected to spending the money without first reducing federal spending elsewhere, was the lone dissenter.Trump is expected to sign the bill into law so that the billions of dollars can flow toward developing vaccines against the highly contagious coronavirus and aiding international efforts to control transmission. Trump initially requested $2.5 billion, with much of that coming from previously appropriated funds. the stories around authorities in the US failing to test for the coronavirus are just astonishing https://t.co/Ries8858DO pic.twitter.com/4t8tg0Rkaw— Rob Price (@robaeprice) March 5, 2020Psssst ... @seattletimes ... maybe change this? pic.twitter.com/Wb1tHlLS1U— Gabby Deutch (@GSDeutch) March 5, 2020NEW: Washington state asked the U.S. Read the rest

No COVID-19 shaming, please. Twitter announced Thursday it will ban tweets that “dehumanize” people because they have a disease, disability, or because of their age, which happens to correspond to a spike in the number of tweets about the fast-spreading global coronavirus outbreak. Read the announcement on the company blog:“Updating our rules against hateful conduct”Twitter Safety, Thursday, 5 March 2020Excerpt:We create our rules to keep people safe on Twitter, and they continuously evolve to reflect the realities of the world we operate within. Our primary focus is on addressing the risks of offline harm, and research* shows that dehumanizing language increases that risk. As a result, of months of conversations and feedback from the public and conversations with bothand, external experts and our own teams, in July 2019, we expanded our rules against hateful conduct to include language that dehumanizes others on the basis of religion. Today, we are further expanding this rule to include language that dehumanizes on the basis of age, disability or disease.We will require Tweets like these to be removed from Twitter when they’re reported to us:If reported, Tweets that break this rule pertaining to age, disease and/or disability, sent before today will need to be deleted, but will not directly result in any account suspensions because they were Tweeted before the rule was in place.“We couldn’t have predicted that this would happen in terms of the coronavirus,” Jerrel Peterson, Twitter’s head of trust and safety policy, told Reuters. Read the rest

Awful news. A 10-year-old boy with a gun was the center of a SWAT standoff, after opening fire on police, several media outlets reported on Thursday.The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the child hid in a shed behind his home in San Diego, firing rounds from a shotgun before he turned himself in. The standoff lasted about two hours.#BREAKING per @SanDiegoPD SWAT standoff in Southcrest over, 10yr boy hiding in shed fired 2 rounds at officers, no one hit, now in custody - updates @fox5sandiego pic.twitter.com/9BKMetCFEX— Jason Sloss (@JasonSlossFOX5) March 5, 2020More from the Sacramento Bee's roundup of reporting by San Diego local news [FOX-5, CBS-8] today: Lt. Shawn Takeuchi told the Union-Tribune that the boy’s parents called police at about 9:10 a.m. because the boy was having “an emotional and mental crisis.”“We have a juvenile who barricaded himself in a shed,” Officer Billy Hernandez told FOX 5. “He has a knife and a shotgun.”Officials called for the boy to come out of the shed after blocking off the road, FOX 5 reported. Eventually the SWAT team was called, according to the news outlet.The boy refused to come out, Officer Scott Lockwood told CBS 8.He eventually surrendered to officers shortly after 11 a.m., according to CBS8. No one was injured in the standoff, according to the outlet. Read the full story:10-year-old fires shotgun at officers in two-hour SWAT standoff, California police say [sacbee.com, By Maddie Capron, March 05, 2020 01:13 PM] IMAGE: Screengrab from San Diego Fox 5 TV coverage. Read the rest

Last week I posted about a Anker PowerCore Slim 10000 portable charger, which can be recharged with a USB-C or Micro USB cable. I included a promo code but some people had trouble with it. Here's a similar Anker charger, the Anker PowerCore Lite 10000mAh,* which has a coupon on the Amazon product page for a great discount. Note that the power input it USB-C only.(This link takes you to a page with a button that lets you buy the charger on Amazon.) Read the rest

Playlists, podcasts, audiobooks, IGTV vids—you consume it all. You'd just as soon miss the train and be late for work than commute without your headphones, but what your audio experience is lacking is comfort. Whether it's obnoxious wires that are always tangled and somehow simultaneously too short and too long or annoying earbuds that fall out constantly, your whole vibe could use improvement.Instead of shelling out for Beats or Bose, consider these over-the-head Sony headphones that all come in under $60, thanks to their open-box status. Each set comes from excess inventory or store-to-warehouse returns and is verified in new condition, so you can be sure that even if the box is looking a little worn, the item inside is good to go.Sony ZX110AP Extra Bass™ Headphones with Mic - Black (Open Box)If you want something that doesn't cost a ton but isn't quite no-frills, check out the Sony ZX110AP. Comfort is paired with functionality in this set of smartphone-compatible over-the-head wireless headphones. You'll get impressive bass, dynamic 1.38" dome drivers, integrated mic and controls, and cushioned earpads that help seal in sound. As a bonus, the swivel folding design makes easy work of storage on those rare occasions you're not wearing them.These folding headphones are normally $29.99, but right now you can get them for 43% off and pay just $16.99.Sony MDR-XB450AP Extra Bass™ Headphones (Open Box)For some extra functionality and a great value, this set integrates with the Smart Key app, allowing you to adjust track and volume on your smartphone and offers a durable, finely-grooved serrated cable to reduce tangling plus the ability to lay your headphones flat. Read the rest

Many of today's bionic limbs are "myoelectric," controlled by electrodes attached to theresidual limb that pick up impulses generated when the wearer consciously contracts that muscle. Those systems aren't without their challenges though, such as a disruption in the signal when the wearer sweats or the prosthetic and sensors shift around on the skin. Now, University of Michigan bioengineer Paul Cederna and his colleagues have developed what may be a more durable approach: they implant the wearer with new "minimuscles," tiny muscle grafts from their own tissue that are monitored by electrodes inserted into the skin. From Science:The researchers isolate bundles of fibers from each of the major nerves in the arm and wrap each bundle in a chunk of muscle tissue roughly the size of a paper clip, often harvested from the thigh. The process basically creates a new set of finger muscles inside a person’s forearm or bicep.Because wrapping nerves this way also relieves certain types of pain common after an amputation, hundreds of people have already had the procedure—but without the wire implants that could record from the muscles to control a prosthesis. In a new study out today in Science Translational Medicine, Cederna and UM neural engineer Cynthia Chestek describe the first test of that control step.In three participants with amputations at different points along the arm who already had muscle implants, wires inserted through the skin near the muscle grafts could easily pick up their electrical signals, the researchers report. Even with an amputation up near the shoulder, a computer could interpret which tiny muscles were contracting, and by how much, to isolate different intended movements—a flex of the pointer finger versus the thumb, for example. Read the rest

If you're interested in "Adorable Deplorable" T-shirts, coffee mugs commemorating the USA-Mexico border wall, and "No More Bullshit" Trump campaign posters, then head over to Bensalem, Pennsylvania, home of the Trump Store, which carries nothing but Donald Trump-themed merchandise.Image: YouTube/AP Read the rest

"There are bugs and they will bite on your face." -- a bad review about Sequoia National ParkThis is hilarious. Designer Amber Share discovered that there were one-star reviews for all 62 of our National Parks and decided to illustrate and hand letter travel posters for them "as a way to put a positive, fun spin on such a negative mindset." She calls her Subpar Parks series a "snarky love letter to the National Parks System" and it's absolutely delightful.See the entire series on her Instagram, and purchase stickers and postcards (mugs and calendars to come) on her website. View this post on Instagram If you would just pave all of the hiking trails, we wouldn't have this problem, @cuyahogavalleynps. ⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ #cuyahogavalleynationalpark #naturalohio #goparks #weareparks #nationalparkgeek @nationalparkservice #nationalparksusa #illustrationnow #passiontopaid #passiontopaid2019 #usnationalparksA post shared by Subpar Parks (@subparparks) on Feb 26, 2020 at 7:31am PST View this post on Instagram Call me McKayla Maroney because I am unimpressed, @grandcanyonnps. #handlettering #handlettering #illustration #handdrawntype #passiontopaid #passiontopaid2019 #nationalparks #grandcanyon @nationalparkserviceA post shared by Subpar Parks (@subparparks) on Dec 18, 2019 at 6:44am PST(MetaFilter)images via Amber Share, used with permission Read the rest

The Rialto Report is a podcast series and digital library that archives oral histories, images, magazines and books covering the golden age of the adult film industry in New York, from the early-1960s to the mid-1980s. It’s the project of adult film historians Ashley West and April Hall, both of whom served as consultants for HBO’s The Deuce.Their podcast interviews are in-depth, intimate, and unrivaled, featuring some of the industry’s biggest and most influential names of the era; Seka, George Payne, Candy Samples, Hyapatia Lee, Jerry Butler, Candida Royalle, and Uschi Digard are among other well-and-lesser-known performers and industry stakeholders featured throughout the series.Certainly, this “golden age” wasn’t exactly golden for all involved. Many performers—both women and men—were exploited, underpaid, mistreated, abused, or worse, and the Rialto Report doesn’t sugarcoat. Their interviews pull no punches and never miss an opportunity, allowing their subjects the space to share their perspectives and tell their own stories—many of them surprising, some of them shocking, all of them intriguing—bringing listeners to the inside of an opaque industry during New York’s epoch of the X-rated. Read the rest

For the next year or so, the NASA Deep Space Network's 70-meter-wide (230-feet-wide) radio antenna in Canberra, Australia will have limited functionality is it undergoes critical upgrades. As a result, NASA won't be able to transmit commands 12 billion miles into space to the intrepid Voyager 2 space probe that recently recovered quite beautifully from a glitch. Both Voyager 1 and 2, launched in 1977, are currently hurtling through the interstellar space carrying scientific instruments and a Golden Record ready to be played by any extraterrestrials who might encounter the probes over the next few billion years. From NASA:The repairs will benefit far more than Voyager 2, including future missions like the Mars 2020 rover and Moon to Mars exploration efforts. The network will play a critical role in ensuring communication and navigation support for both the precursor Moon and Mars missions and the crewed Artemis missions. "The maintenance is needed to support the missions that NASA is developing and launching in the future, as well as supporting the missions that are operating right now," said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager and JPL Director for the Interplanetary Network.The three Canberra 34-meter (111-foot) antennas can be configured to listen to Voyager 2's signal; they just won't be able to transmit commands. In the meantime, said Dodd, the Voyager team will put the spacecraft into a quiescent state, which will still allow it to send back science data during the 11-month downtime."We put the spacecraft back into a state where it will be just fine, assuming that everything goes normally with it during the time that the antenna is down," said Dodd. Read the rest

On Tuesday, a driver in South Los Angeles turned onto the light rail tracks at the absolute worst possible moment. According to police, the individual amazingly suffered only "scrapes and bruises." From ABC7:From the video, it appears a gate was down blocking traffic that would be approaching in the right lane, but there was no gate blocking the left side. With normal two-way traffic, that side would be driving into oncoming vehicles in any case.It was not immediately apparent if there were any flashing lights or bells working at that crossing. Read the rest

"Insert Coin" is a new documentary about Midway, the Chicago-based videogame developer that transformed the industry with Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and other coin-op classics. Director Joshua Tsui funded the film via this Kickstarter and will premiere at the SXSW Film Festival later this month. From the film description:Eugene Jarvis, the creator of 80s classic videogames such as Defender and Robotron, returns to the industry in the 90s. In the process, he assembles a team that pioneers the concept of bringing live-action into videogames, kickstarting a new era in the arcades.The technology mushrooms into massive hits such as Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam and soon the team begins to conquer the world. What began as a small tight-knit group begins to deal with success and eventually the rise of home consumer technology. Read the rest

Legendary physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson, whose mind-blowing work ranged from quantum electrodynamics to nuclear engineering to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, died last week at 96-years-old. Tim O'Reilly just published a tribute to Dyson's genius, curiosity, kindness and unique lens on, well, everything. From O'Reilly Radar:When I interviewed Freeman on stage at OSCON in 2004, along with his son George, the subject strayed to digital preservation. I lamented how much would be lost due to incompatible standards for information storage, and he said, “Oh no, forgetting is so important! It is what gives room for new ideas to come in.” This was such a typical Freeman moment: bringing a profoundly fresh perspective to any discussion. Perhaps the most famous example is the paper he wrote in 1949 at the age of 25 making the case that the visualizations of Richard Feynman were mathematically equivalent to the calculations of the more conventional physicists Julian Schwinger and Shin’ichirō Tomonaga, a paper that led to Feynman, Schwinger, and Tomonaga receiving the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics for the theory of quantum electrodynamics...After George sent an email to a group of friends about Freeman’s death, Danny Hillis replied with a story that seems to perfectly encapsulate this gift of Freeman’s for seeing things that others missed. “I visited him recently,” Danny wrote, “and we got into a conversation about self-organizing systems. After lunch we climbed up the long stairs to his office, and when we sat down he seemed a bit distracted. Read the rest

A man will go to jail for the crime of videoing himself licking ice cream and then returning the beslobbered dessert to the freezer, despite checking it out afterwards. The social media stunt earned D’Adrien Anderson, 24, much attention online, but now it's earned him 30 days in jail. He'll also have to pay a $1000 fine and reimburse Blue Bell Creameries, which apparently destroyed the entire freezerful of products.Security footage proved that after the video ends, Anderson took and paid for the ice cream he licked. But it was to no avail.The incident happened Aug. 26 at a Walmart in Port Arthur. Store surveillance cameras showed that he finally took the Blue Bell ice cream from the freezer and bought it, which wasn’t captured in the social media video, authorities said. Anderson could have been sentenced to up to a year in jail and fined $4,000 for misdemeanor criminal mischief.From the reporting and the charges, it's clear the crime here was partially consuming a product before checking it out -- something a lot of people do every day. But it also seems likely he was prosecuted because his gross video made people who look like District Attorney Bob Wortham even more angry and resentful than usual. Read the rest