Boing Boing

“CoronaCoin” exists. Some cryptocurrency developers on 4Chan cooked up a digital coin that allows traders to bet on the global coronavirus outbreak, based on how many people become infected and/or die. Here's the Reddit post that kicked it off."We developed the world's first blockchain that tracks the spread of the virus based on it's [sic] token supply. The token supply started at 7.6 billion and is burned every two days to keep up with official WHO statistics," said Sunny Kemp, an admin for CoronaCoin's Telegram group.“CoronaCoin” supply diminishes every 2 days based on the rate of new COVID-19 cases, says its website. The price goes higher the more people die, writes Anna Irrera at Reuters:Total supply for the CoronaCoin is based on the world population, and tokens will be burnt once every 48 hours based on the number of those that have been infected or have died, according to its website.“Some people speculate a large portion of the supply will be burned due to the spread of the virus, so they invest,” Sunny Kemp, a user who identified himself as one of the developers, said in a chat on messaging app Telegram.Kemp said the team comprised seven developers with more coming on board. He declined to identify others, but said they were located mostly in Europe. More at Reuters:CoronaCoin: crypto developers seize on coronavirus for new, morbid token Read the rest

Google employee in Switzerland has confirmed case of coronavirus

Bad news: Your brain reaches its peak performance sometime before you turn 26, and it's all downhill from there. Good news: At any age, training with brain exercises has big-time benefits. Better news? The Ultimate Memory Mastery Bundle hooks you up with 20 hours of proven psychology and neuroscience techniques to boost your brain and improve memory.Not impressed? Know this: Improving your memory can improve multiple aspects of your life, both right now and into your senior years. Having a good memory will help you...improve focus, decrease laziness, and free up brainpowerpass down information that can only be found inside your headmaintain or increase creativityboost meaningful learningnetwork like a champ, thanks to all those names and details you recallgain authority on the topics of your choosinglead presentations at work or give a toast at your BFF's weddingchange a tire in the middle of a road with no cell servicemake your brain more quick and agileWith the Ultimate Memory Mastery Bundle, you'll get 7 courses teaching simple yet powerful techniques to strengthen your memory, effortlessly recall information, and reduce the amount of time it takes to memorize something. You'll find actionable, easy-to-apply concepts and activities that can be used immediately—methods that are tested and used by memory experts, including basic mnemonic systems.Including 7 hours of content from the psychologist who founded the Brain Academy, you'll learn dual brain theory, brain systems and neurochemicals, the psychology of memory, the history of memory training, and the memory formation process. Read the rest

Darwin award starter kitWhy would someone need an extension cord like this?Image: IMGUR Read the rest

In balmy Calgary, two Weinermobiles are for sale. It's not clear if the $12,000 asking price is for both hot dog shaped cars, or the price per. One things is certain -- THE PEANUT IS NOT FOR SALE ! STOP ASKING.Image: Kijiji Read the rest

A Google employee who "had been in the Zurich office for a limited time" has been diagnosed with coronavirus. “We can confirm that one employee from our Zurich office has been diagnosed with the coronavirus. They were in the Zurich office for a limited time, before they had any symptoms. We have taken — and will continue to take — all necessary precautionary measures, following the advice of public health officials, as we prioritize everyone’s health and safety,” a spokesperson for Google told CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa.According to 9to5Google, Google has already banned employee travel to China, Iran and parts of Italy, and is planning to ban employees from traveling to Japan and South Korea, starting next week. They have also posted signs at their bay area offices "reminding people to wash their hands and cover their mouths." Google hasn't released the identity of the infected employee.This was first reported by Business Insider:A Google employee has tested positive for the coronavirus https://t.co/AEp7Mm484v— Business Insider (@businessinsider) February 28, 2020 Image: Nicolas Nova / Flickr Read the rest

Disney World's Jungle Cruise ride isn't so dull after all. Yesterday, passengers got the ride of a lifetime when their boat began to sink. Some people got soaked up to their waists while staff called the park's Reedy Creek Fire Department. Fortunately the adventurers all made it back onto land as park members helped them climb to safety. They don't call it Adventureland for nothing.Disney World Jungle Cruise Boat Sinks with Passengers on Board pic.twitter.com/eFMx4KygZW— D-ROC (@DJDROC) February 28, 2020 Jeez! You’d think they hit an iceberg #JungleCruise #Disney https://t.co/m3PqTlftfp— Char, The Irish Pirate (@Yo_Ho_Yo_HoLife) February 28, 2020 Via NBC Read the rest

In this absolutely fascinating segment on a 1970 episode of The Dick Cavett Show, two members of the Women's Liberation Movement, Susan Brownmiller and Sally Kempton, argue with Playboy founder Hugh Hefner about the depiction of women in his magazine. After Brownmiller and Kempton present their argument, Hef says, "I'm more in sympathy then perhaps the girls realize," in one of his many cringeworthy self-owns on the episode.Image: YouTube Read the rest

According to Wikipedia, the first electrical motor was a homopolar motor. "Its operation was demonstrated by Michael Faraday in 1821 at the Royal Institution in London." I have to admit I'm with Insane Clown Posse on how they work, but you can easily make one at home with a few simple parts, as shown in this video by DaveHax. Read the rest

I've been using iTunes Match since the service launched in 2011, and it's been nothing but great until now. At the time, I had a personal laptop and a work computer, along with an iPhone that maybe held 16 gigs. The fact that I could just upload my extensive music library up to Apple's servers and stream or download any of my songs onto any of those devices at any time was a game changer. I'm one of those people who still likes to buy music whenever possible (maybe it's karmic, and I'm hoping someone buys my music some time, too), so I've continued to use the service, downloading my preferred albums at any given to listen to on-the-go instead of dipping into my data plan.Honestly, the only quirk I discovered with the service was a blessing in disguise. iTunes Match will upload any of your music, but if matches something that already exists in their library, they'll let you download the corresponding high-resolution audio files. I had a lot of shitty CD-rips from high school that were suddenly returned to their high-quality glory, and freed of those obnoxious data squelches on the high end.That is, until the other day. When I had a hankering to listen to "I Don't Want To Be An Asshole Anymore" by the Menzingers. 'Cause it's great song!Except it wasn't there. In fact, the entire album was missing from my library. I own the entire Menzingers discography — purchased music! — and Rented World was now completely gone. Read the rest

Throw out some random words and Los Angeles-based Harry Mack will instantly spit them out in an amazing rap that is custom-made for each audience. For someone who can't even remember her name under pressure, this kind of improv is mind-blowing. Read the rest

ICE has done facial recognition searches on millions of photos Maryland drivers without court approval. They appear to be targeting immigrants who sought driver’s licenses after 2013.The access sought by Maryland state officials “goes far beyond what other states allow and that alarms immigration activists in a state that grants special driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants,” report Drew Harwell and Erin Cox at the Washington Post:More than 275,000 such licenses have been issued statewide since 2013, when the state became the first on the East Coast to defy federal guidelines and allow undocumented immigrants to obtain a license without having to provide proof of legal status. The technology now under scrutiny could let an ICE official run a photograph of an unknown person through the system and see if any potentially undocumented immigrants are returned as a match.“It’s a betrayal of immigrants’ trust for the [state] to turn around and let ICE run warrantless searches on their faces,” said Harrison Rudolph, a senior associate at Georgetown University Law School’s Center on Privacy and Technology. “It’s a bait-and-switch. … ICE is using biometric information in the shadows, without government notice or public approval, to hunt down the most vulnerable people.” Read more:ICE has run facial-recognition searches on millions of Maryland drivers[washington post via techmeme.com] Read the rest

Admit it...even having a pocket knife within reach at a moment’s notice makes you feel a little like James Bond, right? Like, if you run up against a locked vault or a sinister superweapon, all you’d need are a couple of hand-held tools to diffuse the whole situation and save the world.Look, we don’t recommend trying to disable a bomb with any of the 10 cool pocket knives and multi-tool gadgets in this assortment, but they do offer some peace of mind in a jam.B-2 Dog Tag: Fully Concealed Nano Blade Pocket Knife - $34.99; originally $69Is there a more badass a feeling than knowing you’ve got a blade hanging around your neck? This Kickstarter-funded survivalist dream is a military-style lightweight dog tag with its own key-sized blade. The 1-inch blade can even be removed and re-inserted to create its own blade and handle set-up for added versatility.Pocket Samurai Keychain Knife - $17.99; originally $19.99A pocket knife with a decidedly Japanese feel, the Pocket Samurai folds together the popular higonokami knife style into this portable package. With a razor-sharp tanto style blade, pocket clip and keychain loop, it’s super handy.TriTac Tactical EDC Penknife - $41.99; originally $69.99They say the pen is mightier than the sword, but what if you could have both? This stainless steel blade and tungsten carbide window punch can handle all your on-the-spot cutting, all while housed in the body of a pen that can write in any conditions, even on wet paper. Read the rest

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD IT'S REALhttps://t.co/MyCPm4AHi1 pic.twitter.com/kZ5t072nX3— Katie Mummah (@nuclearkatie) February 27, 2020Nuclear semiotics is the discipline of communicating the nature of radioactive waste to people who don't know what it is. How do we tell our distant descendants -- people 10,000 years from now -- to stay away from it? The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico studies the proposals, which include scary earthworks but also a disarming message (below) originally devised by Sandia Labs. These immortal words have been immanentized by Nuclear engineer and PhD student Katie Mummah as a "Live Laugh Love"-style sign.This place is a message... and part of a system of messages... pay attention to it!Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture.This place is not a place of honor... no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here... nothing valued is here.What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger.The danger is in a particular location... it increases towards a center... the center of danger is here... of a particular size and shape, and below us.The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours.The danger is to the body, and it can kill.The form of the danger is an emanation of energy.The danger is unleashed only if you substantially disturb this place physically. This place is best shunned and left uninhabited. Read the rest

Simon Stålenhag's (previously at Boing Boing) unnerving blend of social realism, misty landscapes and alien technology is coming to TV in the form of a series based on Tales from the Loop. [via The Verge] Read the rest

A Sydney veterinarian pulled an entire beach towel from the snake that ate it. The snake, Monty Python, an 18-year-old carpet python, is recovering; no word on the towel."A flexible endoscope was placed down Monty's gastrointestinal tract, which allowed us to visualise the end of the towel sitting in her stomach," Small Animal Specialist Hospital posted to Instagram. "With assistance from our internal medicine team, very long forceps were placed through the endoscope and used to grasp the towel." Read the rest

At least some things in the world are still adorable. From RTÉ:The Kelly's have four boys who are just one day shy of their fifth birthday.Now they have been gifted an early birthday present of quad lambs.Quadruplet brothers in Co Offaly have met recent arrivals on their family farm - a set of lamb quads pic.twitter.com/6kLQG0rNJL— RTÉ News (@rtenews) February 27, 2020Honestly the whole video is worth it just for the lambs running off at the end.Quads on the double for Offaly farming family [Teresa Mannion / RTÉ]Image: Public Domain via PxHere Read the rest

Uri Tuchman explains how to make a very tiny but realistic-looking mattress from a block of maple. "Don't ask any questions," says Uri. "We are going to carve a mattress, out of this." It's the perfect introduction to his channel, where he makes small, beautiful items with hand tools, many of which he made himself. Read the rest

Police in Grass Valley, California, released bodycam footage showing an officer pulling a man from a burning building. In the video, emergency services arrive to find the blaze well-underway and are unable to enter the house due to the choking fumes. Officers dither for lack of options until one, named as Jonathan Brown, heads off to check for a back door. He finds it, boots it in, then spots a man unconscious on the ground. Brown grabs the man's feet, hauls him out of the house and summons medics from a waiting ambulance. The victim had third-degree burns and burned lungs, and is recovering in stable condition at UC Davis Medical Center, according to Grass Valley Police Chief Alex Gammelgard. Read the rest

The Trump administration is reportedly considering the possibility of re-implementing the Defense Production Act. Originally enacted during the Korean War, the Act essentially empowers the President to control the means of production—the idea being that it would be in the interest of the nation's defense to force private manufacturers to focus their production efforts on things that would benefit the country in a time of tenuous resources.From Reuters:A White House official confirmed that the administration was exploring the use of the law to spur manufacturing of protective gear. Both the DHS official and the White House requested anonymity to discuss the issue.“Let’s say ‘Company A’ makes a multitude of respiratory masks but they spend 80% of their assembly lines on masks that painters wear and only 20% on the N95,” the White House official said. “We will have the ability to tell corporations, ‘No, you change your production line so it is now 80% of the N95 masks and 20% of the other.’”“It allows you to basically direct things happening that need to get done,” the official added.In other words, it's precisely the kind of government-controlled economic planning that Republicans have warned would happen under a Democratic-Socialist administration. Except in this case, it's good. Because they're the ones doing it.U.S. mulls using sweeping powers to ramp up production of coronavirus protective gear [Ted Hesson and Alexandra Alper / Reuters]Image: Public domain via PxHere Read the rest

There's no shortage of CRMs out there for large corporations, e-commerce companies, and booming startups to utilize. Think Salesforce, for example. But if you're running a small business of ten employees max, there's no way it makes sense to invest in an expensive, robust option like that. You're better off using your old system of spreadsheets, emails, and Post-its.Or instead, you can turn to a solution like Daylite. Not only is the pricing structure more small business-friendly, but it's actually designed for small teams, especially those just starting out. Use PCs and Android? It's probably not for you. Daylite is a native solution for Mac and iOS only. It's designed for companies that work with clients, like law firms, consulting firms, financial firms, and real estate brokers, but not for traditional e-commerce companies.At its core, Daylite is a CRM, meaning it organizes all the client details and communications, deals, leads, and information that make your business run. It keeps all of the above organized, and incorporates project management tools to keep you on track. You can set automated reminders, delegate tasks, and link your calendar so that you never let anything fall through the cracks. And most importantly, it can be used by your entire team, so everyone has access to all of the information from anywhere (with permission controls to help you determine who's allowed to have access, of course.)It's worth saying that Daylite is more focused on efficiency and project management than your average CRM. Read the rest

If you're curious about what rapist Harvey Weinstein did in the days before before being locked up, this segment of Inside Edition has the details. They say he spent time with his two young children and saw a movie. He didn't spend time with his adult children from an earlier marriage. The last time he saw one of his daughters was in 2017 when he went to her house. She ended up calling 911 and told the operator that her father was suicidal.According to the segment, Weinstein, who was supposed to go to Rikers Island is still at Bellevue Hospital. His publicist (can you believe he still has one?) told Inside Edition that his rapey client is in a "prison cell that's set up like a hospital, and right outside he has guards watching his door, and every place he goes he's on 24-hour watch. In fact everything he does, even the restroom and the walls are all clear plastic or glass so that people can monitor him 24/7." Read the rest

“Complaints of bees flying out of an apartment’s duct work led to a frightening discovery Monday in Virginia: An 8-foot-long hive was in the living room ceiling, including 100 pounds of raw honey.” A pest control company in Richmond, Virginia claims to haves removed an 8-foot-long beehive from someone’s apartment.From the AP roundup of local news coverage in Virginia:Virginia Wildlife Management and Control said in a statement that they removed the hive from the ceiling of a living room in Richmond on Monday. The space was in between tenants at the time.The company said the hive produced about 80 to 100 pounds of honey, although only about 15 to 20 pounds was able to be salvaged. Rich Perry, owner of the wildlife control company, told The Charlotte Observer that the hive was big enough to support 100,000 to 150,000 bees. But he said it wasn’t fully occupiedPerry said it was extremely unusual to find such a large hive inside a building. He said the hive of Italian bees was likely to be at least 2 years old. He said the bees probably got in through holes in the siding and found a home between rafters and sheet rock. The company has a no-kill policy on bees, but they weren't able to find the queen, so the hive wasn't saved. Very sad.Here's the original story in the Charlotte Observer:• ‘Humongous’ bee hive in Virginia home’s living room ceiling held 100 pounds of honey[PHOTOS courtesy Virginia Wildlife Management and Control] Read the rest

Amazon.com has banned the sale of over a million products in the last few weeks for inaccurate coronavirus health claims, the company told Reuters on Thursday.The struggle is real. If you search for "Purell" or "N95 mask" on Amazon in the USA today, the supplies are gone, or the offers are ridiculously higher than normal.Excerpt:Amazon also removed tens of thousands of deals from merchants that it said attempted to price-gouge customers. The world’s largest online retailer has faced scrutiny over the health-related offers on its platform, and earlier this week Italy launched a probe into surging prices around the internet for sanitizing gels and hygiene masks while it battled the biggest outbreak in Europe. (...) One offer comparison site showed recent examples of higher-than-usual prices for masks on Amazon made by U.S. industrial conglomerate 3M Co.A merchant Thursday offered a 10-pack of N95 masks for $128, a Reuters reporter saw when clicking through the buying options on Amazon. That was up from a recent seller average price of $41.24, according to the tracking website camelcamelcamel.com. The item was no longer available in a check later in the day.A two-pack respirator was offered new at $24.99 earlier this week by a third-party seller, up from a recent average of $6.65 when sold by Amazon, the price-following site showed.“There is no place for price gouging on Amazon,” a spokeswoman said in a statement, citing the company’s policy that product information must be accurate and that Amazon can take down offers that hurt customer trust, including when pricing “is significantly higher than recent prices offered on or off Amazon.” Read the rest

AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon are among the telecommunications carriers facing hundreds of millions of dollars in fines from the Federal Communications Commission after a federal investigation found the companies didn't do enough to protect the location data of users. The telecoms are expected to fight the FCC's decision.From reporting by Drew FitzGerald and Sarah Krouse at the Wall Street Journal:The Federal Communications Commission is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in fines from the country’s top cellphone carriers after officials found the companies failed to safeguard information about customers’ real-time locations, according to people familiar with the matter.The telecom regulator in recent weeks informed AT&T Inc., Sprint Corp., T-Mobile US Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. of pending notices of apparent liability, the people said. Read more at the WSJ: FCC Probe Finds Mobile Carriers Didn’t Safeguard Customer Location Data [via techmeme]Drip, drip, drip...In January the carriers were found to be illegally disclosing customers' location data to 3rd party. Now, they weren't safeguarding the location data to begin with. Oops, it's only the real time location of millions of subscribers. https://t.co/TCnYomb06D— Ramsey McGrory (@RamseyMcGrory) February 27, 2020WSJ: FCC Probe Finds Mobile Carriers Didn’t Safeguard Customer Location Data"the companies can still argue they aren’t liable or should pay less. It would ultimately fall on the U.S. Justice Department to collect any penalties."https://t.co/ZLkcZB2Ixm— Hamza Shaban (@hshaban) February 27, 2020AT&T and T-Mobile are among the companies facing hundreds of millions of dollars in fines after FCC probe finds that carriers didn’t do enough to protect location data, though the carriers will likely fight decision https://t.co/mNQL4Rutsk Read the rest

BuzzFeed News reporters have seen leaked Clearview AI documents that show the company is “working with more than 2,200 law enforcement agencies, companies, and individuals around the world,” including Best Buy, Walmart, Macy's, ICE, DOJ, and the FBI, plus “a sovereign wealth fund in the United Arab Emirates.”Wow.Clearview AI is the facial recognition startup run by a right-wing internet personality that is reported to have a database of billions of photos scraped from social media and the internet.Just a few hours ago, Clearview reported that its entire client list has been stolen.From reporting by Ryan Mac, Caroline Haskins, and Logan McDonald at Buzzfeed News:The startup, Clearview AI, is facing legal threats from Facebook, Google, and Twitter, as well as calls for regulation and scrutiny in the US. But new documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News reveal that it has already shared or sold its technology to thousands of organizations around the world.In its quest to create a global biometric identification system to span both public and private sectors, Clearview has signed paid contracts with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, and Macy’s, according to the document obtained by BuzzFeed News. The company has credentialed users at the FBI, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Interpol, and hundreds of local police departments. In doing so, Clearview has taken a flood-the-zone approach to seeking out new clients, providing access not just to organizations, but to individuals within those organizations — sometimes with little or no oversight or awareness from their own management. Read the rest

Website building apps are all about one thing — helping you craft a great-looking, fast-running website without having to mess with all that back-end code. However, nobody wants their site to look just like a template, so customization is all but a must. So how easy is it to make those changes and still not get sucked into the programming code weeds?A lot simpler than you might think with the aid of services like Weblium Website Builder. A previous holder of a #2 Product of the Week ranking on Product Hunt with over 200,000 users around the globe, Weblium has carved out a place as a website builder that makes executing your specific vision of your website in detail with remarkable ease.Getting started with Weblium begins with choosing from the more than 180 available site templates. There are 20 different site categories to sample, so you’ll pretty much always find a tone or style that matches the vibe you seek for your new site.This is the stage where the nitty-gritty truly kicks in, and with Weblium’s block design aesthetic, it’s hyper-intuitive to just pick and choose from over 200 different drag-and-drop content blocks to position on your pages any way you like. The Weblium AI Design Supervisor offers dynamic edit capabilities, so you’ll always be able to see the exact changes you’re making to a block show up immediately in your build with no guesswork later.Just add an FAQ section in one corner of your page, comments in another and maybe a social media feed along the right side — each move is as simple as point and click. Read the rest

Created by Promobot, a startup in Russia, this electronic Arnie isn't going to be murdering its way through all the Sarah Connors in the L.A. phonebook. It might find its way into a few nightmares, though.Below, the same Arnie headbot on the CES 2020 show floor. Read the rest

It's seems likely that Covid-19 will be a pandemic, maybe on the order of the 1918 Spanish Flu (listen to this podcast episode of The New York Times' The Daily for a persuasive argument as to why). It might be a good time to prepare your home for an outbreak. This NPR article, "A Guide: How To Prepare Your Home For Coronavirus," has good advice.Here's a summary:Make sure you have a supply of daily prescription medication on hand, as well as over-the-counter fever reducers.Have sufficient nonperishable foods to last your family for two weeks.Have soup, crackers, and Gatorade or Pedialyte on hand should anyone in the house get sick.Clean surfaces frequently with soap and water.Wear a mask if you get sick.Telecommute instead of going to an office, if possible.Have a plan in place for kids and older family members.Wash hands as soon as you enter your home.Cough into your elbow.Image by tatianawillmann from Pixabay Read the rest

In the 1920s, Frederick Banting, one of the scientists who co-discovered insulin (and won a Nobel Prize for it) said, “Insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world.” He and the other scientists sold the patent for making insulin to the University of Toronto for $3.And yet today, this drug, which is needed to keep millions of people with diabetes alive, costs 700% more than it did two decades ago and many people can no longer afford it. What happened? It comes down to two reasons: a "lack of pricing regulations and lack of competition," says James Dinneen in his article, "There’s No Excuse for the Insulin Crisis."There's no law stopping the three major insulin manufacturers (Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi) from charging whatever they want for the drugs they make. And since diabetics will die without it, insulin makers gouge them for all their worth. So why isn't there a low-cost generic version? The manufacturers came up with a clever way to stop that from happening.From the article:That lack of competition isn’t an accident. Though the original patents for most of the insulin formulations on the market expired years ago, the big three insulin manufacturers have extended their monopolies by patenting incremental changes to their products and manufacturing processes. Those patents can then be used to tie-up potential generic competitors in long, costly legal battles. In addition, they have been shielded from competition from generics by stringent federal regulations around “biologics” like insulin, which is a complex molecule produced by living cells. Read the rest

Watch this coach's incredible reflexes as a young gymmast misses her landing during a recent competition in Nashville, Tennessee. ViralHog quoted the girl's parent:"This was my daughter's first run on vault and when jumping back on her back handspring she went sideways and could've badly hurt herself but her coach saw that she wasn't aligned and ran in to catch her before she hit the ground." Read the rest

If Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan really want to attain the financial independence they desire, they could do worse than launching a weekly Royal Scandal magazine.

Last night, someone stole a Lincoln Navigator hearse with a body inside. The police search just ended this morning with a high-speed pursuit on the 110 freeway that ended in the Lincoln Navigator crashing. They apprehended the suspect and the body was still inside the vehicle. According to CBS Local, the SUV "was stolen from out in front of St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Church in unincorporated Pasadena. A casket holding a woman’s body was inside the vehicle at the time of the theft."News video below.To the suspect(s) driving around in a Black Lincoln Navigator stolen from the 700 blk of Rosemead Bl just after 8PM today in uninc #Pasadena:Out of all the bad decisions you have made, at least make one good one & bring back the deceased person & casket inside the Navigator. pic.twitter.com/Dvo7u94zL1— LA County Sheriffs (@LASDHQ) February 27, 2020UPDATEThis is what we can confirm. -The Black Navigator is the stolen vehicle involved in the grand theft auto from last night.-There is one suspect in custody-One casket with one deceased has been located inside the vehicle pic.twitter.com/JRrKRqYnyv— LA County Sheriffs (@LASDHQ) February 27, 2020 Read the rest

I consider myself to be a skilled parallel parker, mostly because I spent my younger years driving my mom's 1975 Oldsmobile Delta 88 land yacht. I'm not sure if I follow the steps laid out in this video by Jalopnik's Andrew Collins but his does seem like a methodologically sound approach that's infinitely better than the dreaded "park by touch" technique. Read the rest

In 1983, Cyndi Lauper transformed Robert Hazard's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" into a new wave pop anthem that Gillian G. Gaar described as a "strong feminist statement", an "anthem of female solidarity," and a "playful romp celebrating female camaraderie" in her book She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll (2002). Above, listen to Lauper belt it out in the isolated vocal track from the recording session.Also worth a listen, the original "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" as sung Hazard.(via /r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

I count myself as one of the superfans of horror auteur Jordan Peele, so I'm superexcited to see his remake of Candyman, a 1992 cult-favorite about an urban legend that turns out not to be a legend. Peele produced and co-wrote the screenplay, and it comes out June 12, 2020.From the synopsis:For as long as residents can remember, the housing projects of Chicago’s Cabrini Green neighborhood were terrorized by a word-of-mouth ghost story about a supernatural killer with a hook for a hand, easily summoned by those daring to repeat his name five times into a mirror. In present day, a decade after the last of the Cabrini towers were torn down, visual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II; HBO’s Watchmen, Us) and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris; If Beale Street Could Talk, The Photograph), move into a luxury loft condo in Cabrini, now gentrified beyond recognition and inhabited by upwardly mobile millennials.With Anthony’s painting career on the brink of stalling, a chance encounter with a Cabrini Green old-timer (Colman Domingo; HBO’s Euphoria, Assassination Nation) exposes Anthony to the tragically horrific nature of the true story behind Candyman. Anxious to maintain his status in the Chicago art world, Anthony begins to explore these macabre details in his studio as fresh grist for paintings, unknowingly opening a door to a complex past that unravels his own sanity and unleashes a terrifyingly viral wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with destiny. Read the rest

Disney is seeking an Admiral for their Galactic Starcruiser, Halcyon. That means there's an open position for general manager of the Star Wars theme hotel at Walt Disney World, Florida. From the Job Summary:Are you ready to command a Galactic Starcruiser, the Halcyon, where you will take passengers on an adventure to a galaxy far, far, away? Be the first Admiral (GM) to manage this fully immersive, luxury resort, where guests and crew are part of a Star Wars story, including encounters between Resistance forces and the First Order.We are seeking a seasoned hotelier with extensive senior leadership hospitality experience on land or at sea to serve as Resort Manager / Hotel Director. He/she will drive and execute a unique immersive “cruise-like experience” aligned with our Star Wars franchise. This experience will operate as a two-night journey and be the world’s first multi-day immersive adventure. The ideal candidate will have a passion for bringing ideas to life, creativity, value a non-traditional work environment, and balance a traditional hotel experience with immersive entertainment. Read the rest

"To the suspect(s) driving around in a Black Lincoln Navigator stolen from the 700 blk of Rosemead Bl just after 8PM today in uninc #Pasadena: Out of all the bad decisions you have made, at least make one good one & bring back the deceased person & casket inside the Navigator," tweeted the LA County Sheriff's department last night.The suspects have not been identified and are still at large.To the suspect(s) driving around in a Black Lincoln Navigator stolen from the 700 blk of Rosemead Bl just after 8PM today in uninc #Pasadena:Out of all the bad decisions you have made, at least make one good one & bring back the deceased person & casket inside the Navigator. pic.twitter.com/Dvo7u94zL1— LA County Sheriffs (@LASDHQ) February 27, 2020Image by Michael Kauer from Pixabay Read the rest

People are tossing old mattresses faster than ever before, thanks to online mattress peddlers who offer easy returns and 100-day guarantees. (It's not surprising -- the last time I visited a brick-and-mortar mattress store it had the same vibe as a sleazy used car joint.) The upshot -- tons of tossed out mattresses clogging landfills and the rise of scammy recyclers who collect filthy, vermin-infested mattresses, give them new covers and resell them as new.The Guardian reports:One scam involves fraudsters posing as reputable mattress recyclers. They set up an official-looking website and start offering their services to residents and businesses. When people bite, the fraudsters collect the mattresses, pick the ones in good condition, replace the outer casing, and then wrap in new covers that often have the logo of a reputable manufacturer on it. These secondhand mattresses are then sold as new. “Some of the mattresses you get from the general public are disgusting,” warns Allsopp. “If you strip the outer polycotton layer off a mattress, underneath it’s just a horror,” Scollick agrees. “That, unsanitised, is going into supposedly brand-new mattresses.”It is easy to fall victim to mattress scammers: a member of Fitzsimons’ own family was duped. “I was agog!” he says. “In spite of all my stories over the dinner table!” A common scam involves a man with a van – often with the name of a reputable firm on the side – who goes door-to-door in residential neighbourhoods. He was meant to be delivering mattresses to a hotel, he’ll say, but there was a problem with the order, and they have surplus, high-quality mattresses. Read the rest

Sure, Jan.

A woman dressed as Cookie Monster was arrested this week after being found overdosed in a car after dropping her daughter off at another person's house.Police found [Monster] wearing the Sesame Street costume slumped over in her idling car behind the home where she had just dropped off her daughter. Narcan was used to revive [Monster]. She was taken to the hospital where she was treated for an apparent heroin overdose. Her friend who alerted police talked with Channel 11 about the scary situation. Read the rest

In our modern world, our usual first approach to combating an oncoming cold is to medicate it into oblivion. Sometimes, that carpet bombing pharmaceutical attack plan can knock out the congestion and discomfort of an illness before it settles in. But there’s always something to be said for trying to put down the effects of a cold or allergy irritation with a more natural, holistic method.As opposed to drug remedies, steam inhalers go at sinus issues with good old fashioned water vapor. You can enjoy the benefits of this time-tested technique with the AVYA Portable Steam Inhaler, which is now over 30 percent off its regular price at just $129.99.Boiled water or saline solution produces a heated steam aerosol that travels deep into the nasal passages, thanks to Avya’s patented technology. The vapors break up congestion, clear sinuses and relieve irritation or inflammation while draining mucus caused by colds, allergies, sinusitis or even the flu.Even if you’re just suffering from nasal or throat discomfort due to cold weather conditions, the AVYA inhaler can help hydrate and moisturize those airways and soothe those sensitive areas with an ancient and safe remedy.Battery-operated and weighing less than 8 ounces, you can use the AVYA anywhere to get breathing relief instantly. The AVYA was backed by a Kickstarter campaign that raised over $344,000 and with a 4.2 out of 5 star Amazon rating, the unit is definitely winning over converts with its simple approach to nasal relief.Of course, the right saline solution can help make a real difference in achieving that relief, so you can also choose from standard AVYA Nasal Saline Solution ($8.99, Read the rest

Chris Pattle's The Simpsons in CSS is exactly as promised: thirteen of the show's characters rendered and animated using style sheets: no javascript or image files to be found. (In Firefox on Windows, you can see some artifacts that hint at how the characters are built from geometric shapes.) Read the rest

Petnet is a $300 internet-of-things pet food bowl. Its network went down and stayed down for a week, leaving some pets to go hungry. The BBC reports that owners are livid and that it's not the first trouble Petnet's had maintaining service.Petnet has two Twitter accounts. The official one has not tweeted since 30 August 2019 but the support account issued four tweets between 14 and 21 February about the problems experienced. In its first tweet it said a "system outage" was affecting second generation devices and asked customers not to switch off their feeder even if it appeared to be offline. ... On 21 February it said smartfeeders were "returning online" and a "system reset" was in progress.The Petnet has dismal reviews on Amazon, where the Wopet is the clear favorite: a plain old automatic feeder, no internet required. PREVIOUSLY: Smart pet food bowl closes when pets overeat. Read the rest

Assembling LEGO's official Star Destroyer kit [Amazon] is no mean feat: it has nearly 4,800 pieces and retails for $700. But Matt Benner, aka TheBrickWiz, went 30,000 better, constructing a collossal Star Wars spaceship to put the fear of Vader into any rebel fool enough to fall into its gravity well. He even made the interior – check out the conference room (below)! Read the rest

In January of 2018, I was hired by the Civic Ensemble of Ithaca, New York to take part in a fascinating playwriting opportunity. The company had started a ReEntry Theatre program in 2015, teaming with state social services to implement a theatre education curriculum to help people dealing with incarceration and substance abuse rehabilitation to transition back into society. In the past, the program participants had written their own monologues and brief scenes, along with learning some improv exercises. But they brought me in to work with those program participants, and all the raw material they'd produce, and turn that into a full-length play—a singular, cohesive vision that was lightly fictionalized but drawn directly from the participants' real experiences dealing with prison and addiction.The result, Streets Like This, had its world premiere in May of 2018. But now the company is re-mounting it at the Cherry Artspace (also in Ithaca) from March 12-22, 2020.Working on this play was a very cool experience. The program participants were all people who had seen a lot of shit, but also had some incredibly deep empathy but for what they and others like them had gone through. Many of them possessed an intuitive understanding of the complex systemic issues that drove them into the desperation — the violence, drugs, sex work, and petty crime — that landed them in prison in the first place. And having been through prison — sometimes more than once — they also had a better understanding of the ways that the system is set up to fail people just like them. Read the rest

Today on "Every Single Expectation of Gradual Fascist Action Under the Trump Administration Has Continued Coming True:"The Department of Justice today announced the creation of a section dedicated to investigating and litigating revocation of naturalization. The Denaturalization Section will join the existing sections within the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation—the District Court Section and the Appellate Section. This move underscores the Department’s commitment to bring justice to terrorists, war criminals, sex offenders, and other fraudsters who illegally obtained naturalization.I generally try to avoid slippery slope arguments as they are a logical fallacy. But this one is particularly concerning. Take it in good faith, and there's still the issue of "de-naturalizing" people from countries like Tibet, or the Kingdom of Fiji, or Czechoslovakia, or the United Arab Republic, or the Catalan Republic — nation-states that technically no longer exist, but from which naturalized US citizens could have possibly emigrated.And then there are the worst-case scenarios: who could trust that the government would limit these cases to terrorists and sex offenders, and who gets to define what constitutes terrorism or a sex offense?This is a dangerous nativist agenda no matter what way you slice it,The Department of Justice Creates Section Dedicated to Denaturalization Cases [US Department of Justice]Image: U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Tracy L. DeMarco / Public Domain, depicting a military spouse becoming a military spouse receiving her naturalized US citizenship on foreign soil. Read the rest

Whether you're managing a political campaign or building a client base, there comes a time when you stop seeing people and start seeing numbers.This doesn't happen suddenly. You shake hands, make calls, and build relationships. And then those relationships disappear into a database of donors or customers as your organization grows. People get brought in to manage those databases, and those databases fragment off into countless little spreadsheets.That's how the people that were once your supporters end up with faceless emails, impersonal calls, and tedious forms that ask for information you already have. And that's how they stop becoming your supporters.That's why services like the one that NationBuilder is providing are more crucial than ever. They allow you to manage your contacts in integrated databases that actually foster communication and allow for on the-fly-customization based on their interests and prior interactions.In other words, it allows you to treat "your people" like people.All of this is done on a website that you can build from the ground up in minutes with NationBuilder's ready-made templates. Plus, NationBuilder sets you up with tools to help you inspire, capture, and seamlessly track actions across your page.NationBuilder also empowers you to maintain real, meaningful connections with your supporters by way of personalized email and text to supporters based on their interests and history with you.They're currently doing a 14-day free trial of NationBuilder, but Boing Boing readers can get a free month after that trial ends. If you're doing any kind of community engagement, it's definitely worth a look. Read the rest

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday confirmed a possible first person-to-person transmission of COVID-19 in California in a patient who is identified as a member of the general public. The individual is a resident of Solano County, CA. They are receiving medical care in Sacramento County, say state officials.The individual suspected of being the first person to-person coronavirus transmission had no known exposure to the virus through travel or close contact with a known infected individual, according to the California Department Of Public Health.NEW: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a possible first case of person-to-person transmission of COVID-19 in California in general public. The individual is a resident of Solano County and is receiving medical care in Sacramento Co. per State Officials— Andrew Blankstein (@anblanx) February 27, 2020The individual suspected of first possible person to-person Coronavirus transmission had no known exposure to the virus through travel or close contact with a known infected individual per California Dept. Of Public Health— Andrew Blankstein (@anblanx) February 27, 2020Per Governor @GavinNewsom's office: The individual infected with Coronavirus is a resident of Solano County and is receiving medical care in Sacramento County. The individual had no known exposure to the virus through travel or close contact with a known infected individual.— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) February 27, 2020.@CAPublicHealth says the first possible community transmission of coronavirus in California involved an individual who lives in Solano County in the Bay Area. Read the rest

A Korean Air flight attendant has tested positive for coronavirus, and they worked on flights between Seoul and Los Angeles, South Korean media outlets reported on Wednesday afternoon U.S. time.The Korean Air cabin crew member diagnosed with coronavirus today flew home to South Korea from Los Angeles on February 19 https://t.co/ugf1TsmW3s— Steve Lookner (@lookner) February 25, 2020The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said Wednesday the crew member worked on a Korean Air KE958 flight from Israel to Incheon, February 15-16. The passengers included a South Korea tour group from which 31 coronavirus cases originated, medical reports say.Other KA routes and flights the employee with coronavirus may have traveled have not yet been identified.SEOUL, Feb 27 (Reuters) - A Korean Air flight attendant who has tested positive for coronavirus had worked on flights between Seoul and Los Angeles, local media reported.— Vincent Lee (@Rover829) February 27, 2020From Reuters:Korean Air has referred all inquiries about the employee’s itinerary to KCDC, as the authority in charge, adding “We will continue to work closely with the relevant authorities to ensure the safety of our passengers and employees.” #BREAKING: A @KoreanAir flight attendant was diagnosed with #coronavirus shortly after working on a flight to Los Angeles, per South Korean media @ABC7 https://t.co/3qmPdcNFuH— Veronica Miracle (@ABC7Veronica) February 26, 2020 Read the rest