Boing Boing

YouTuber Big Clive bought a "UV disinfection lamp" on eBay. He tested it first by turning it on and aiming it at the back of his hand for a few seconds and then sniffing his hand for "skin damage." There was no odor, which was a good sign that it's not really producing UV-C radiation, at least not in sufficient quantities to work as a germicide. He then took it apart to see what was inside and found "standard near UV LEDs." He says it is simply a "cheap near-UV disco light commonly sold on eBay in various color options... that's a bit naughty." Read the rest

📷 Pepper Construction is using Startup SmartVid.io to analyze worksite images for Oracle Industries Innovation Lab in Deerfield, Illinois. Existing security cameras at retail stores and workplaces are being equipped with articifial intelligence to enforce measures intendded to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, Reuters reports, based on interviews with 16 different machine vision software firms and a number of businesses that are now their clients. “Reuters spoke with 16 video analytics companies, many of them startups with a few million dollars in annual revenue, that have added offerings because of the coronavirus.”From Reuters:“The last thing we want is for the governor to shut all our projects down because no one is behaving,” said Jen Suerth, vice president at Chicago-based Pepper Construction, which introduced software from SmartVid.io this month to detect workers grouping at an Oracle Corp project in Deerfield, Illinois.Samarth Diamond plans to deploy AI from Glimpse Analytics as soon as its polishing factory re-opens in Gujarat, India, while two Michigan shopping centers owned by RPT Realty will have distancing tracking from RE Insight in two weeks.Buyers expect the technology will work because they already have used similar tools to profile shoppers entering stores and find helmet scofflaws on construction sites.But some technology consultants that advise retailers and office landlords have cautioned clients against introducing new technology at a chaotic time and investing in tools that may be needed only for a period of months. Privacy activists concerned about increasingly detailed tracking of people also are urging businesses to limit use of the AI to the pandemic. Read the rest

In this NSFW performance, everyone knows something. It was 2014, but quite timely. Below, a more complete rendition. Cued by the YouTube title, I thought the song was "everyone knows shit fuck", a statement of epistemological skepticism, but it's clear it's "everyone knows shit's fucked", a catechism of faith in epistemic completion. Contemplate this on the tree of woe. Read the rest

It was almost a confession of guilt. Almost.The word 'unnecessary' is such a tell.Every once in a while, the liar-in-chief manages to reflect clearly on his own culpability, seemingly without the ability to realize that he is culpable. Monday, April 27, the day on which we learned that more than 55,000 Americans have now died of the novel coronavirus, was one such day.Impeached president Donald John Trump:"There has been so much unnecessary death in this country. It could have been stopped and it could have been stopped short, but somebody a long time ago, it seems, decided not to do it that way. And the whole world is suffering because of it."Trump: "There has been so much unnecessary death in this country. It could have been stopped and it could have been stopped short, but somebody a long time ago, it seems, decided not to do it that way. And the whole world is suffering because of it." https://t.co/9T8aUPjUrs pic.twitter.com/VPx2ah8aUy— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 27, 2020Still blaming Obama, aren't you.There is no bottom to his depravity and fecklessness. No number of dead Americans will be enough for Donald Trump.Trump on his call today with governors: "They are as thrilled as they can be, considering the fact that there has been so much unnecessary death in this country." 😳 pic.twitter.com/w2QwwCPvqZ— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 27, 2020 Read the rest

COVID-19 damage (yellow) on lungs of 59-year-old man who died at George Washington University Hospital. 3D model based on computerized tomography scans, courtesy George Washington Hospital and Surgical TheaterHow exactly is coronavirus killing us?This New York Magazine piece on what we do and do not yet know about the novel coronavirus is really good. It's weird seeing everyone compare COVID-19 to the flu, when there are reports coming in of patients dying of exploding hearts and glitching cytokines. Stay the fuck at home, please. Follow the guidance of public health experts, not politicians and economists and nutjobs like Donald Trump. Wear masks, use gloves, wash hands. This thing is not a joke.The invader's impact... SARS-CoV-2 lands in the lungs and can do deep damage there. But the virus, or the body’s response to it, can injure many other organs. #COVID19 https://t.co/3K96LiJrRP pic.twitter.com/PoR71YjaX8— Frits Franssen (@fritsfranssen) April 21, 2020Writes David Wallace-Wells at New York mag's Intelligencer:On April 15, the Washington Post reported that, in New York and Wuhan, between 14 and 30 percent of ICU patients had lost kidney function, requiring dialysis. New York hospitals were treating so much kidney failure “they need more personnel who can perform dialysis and have issued an urgent call for volunteers from other parts of the country. They also are running dangerously short of the sterile fluids used to deliver that therapy.” The result, the Post said, was rationed care: patients needing 24-hour support getting considerably less. On Saturday, the paper reported that “[y]oung and middle-aged people, barely sick with COVID-19, are dying from strokes.” Read the rest

📷 Chris Platzer, a planning commissioner in Vallejo, CA, in lower left, throws a cat in the air during a Zoom meeting last week. Image: City of Vallejo“OK, first, I’d like to introduce my cat,” said Chris Platzer, a planning commissioner in Vallejo, California.He lifted the cat up to the camera, then with two hands, throwing the cat in the air off-screen.He was seen drinking beer, and allegedly called staff "bitches." He's in the doghouse now.“This type of behavior [throwing a cat during a zoom meeting] does not model the core values of the city of Vallejo.”Vallejo Planning Commissioner Chris Platzer throws his cat during a commission meeting on Monday. pic.twitter.com/JObGphUMao— John Glidden (@glid24) April 24, 2020He has resigned.From the Times-Herald:Chris Platzer said in an email to the Vallejo Times-Herald on Saturday that he has resigned from the Vallejo Planning Commission, effectively immediately — days before the Vallejo City Council was set to consider a resolution removing him from the seven-person commission.PlatzerVallejo spokesperson Christina Lee said the city was still attempting to confirm if Platzer had officially resigned from the commission. Platzer couldn’t be reached for comment via phone on Saturday.Platzer was seen drinking a beer and throwing his cat through the air during a commission meeting held via teleconference on April 20.He was also heard by city staff making derogatory remarks after the online meeting had ended.“I’m going to call bull— on you little b—s,” according to the original commission meeting video released by the city on Saturday. Read the rest

Coronavirus warnings appeared in the President's Daily Brief more than a dozen times in January and February, 2020, as the outbreak bloomed first in Asia, then in Europe.Trump does not read the brief, and kept downplaying the threat the whole time. As of Monday, more than 55,000 people in the United States died of COVID-19.From the Washington Post:The repeated warnings were conveyed in issues of the President’s Daily Brief, a sensitive report that is produced before dawn each day and designed to call the president’s attention to the most significant global developments and security threats.For weeks, the PDB — as the report is known — traced the virus’s spread around the globe, made clear that China was suppressing information about the contagion’s transmissibility and lethal toll, and raised the prospect of dire political and economic consequences.But the alarms appear to have failed to register with the president, who routinely skips reading the PDB and has at times shown little patience for even the oral summary he takes two or three times per week, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss classified material.The frequency with which the coronavirus was mentioned in the PDB has not been previously reported, and U.S. officials said it reflected a level of attention comparable to periods when analysts have been tracking active terrorism threats, overseas conflicts or other rapidly developing security issues.Read more:President’s intelligence briefing book repeatedly cited virus threat[Reporting by Greg Miller and Ellen Nakashima, April 27, 2020] Read the rest

There aren't any official numbers to prove it, but Ipley Cross is often hailed among England's most dangerous intersections, or "crossroads" as that land of knife-wielding spongiform hobbits calls it. I don't want to spoil Tom Scott's excellent four-minute explainer, but will point out that you'll get a visceral taste of the problem about 16 seconds in.Ipley Cross, in the middle of the New Forest, is one of the most dangerous road junctions in Britain. Why? • Thanks to Bez, whoever you are: their definitive article on this junction is here. You can sense something dangerous about the environment just looking at it with foreknowledge. Long lines of sight suggest visibility, but hillocks create blind spots approaching the intersection. Worse, the perfect geometry of the roads draws automobiles and bikes into constant bearing and diminishing range, hidden from one anothers' view by door pillars and helmets until it's too late to react. I'm pretty sure that whole cursed forest clearing is a SCP. Read the rest

One upside to our current stay-at-home lifestyle is a renewed sense of togetherness. While everyone used to be off and running in their own directions all the time, now the whole household stays under one roof -- so maybe it’s time to take advantage of that.How about this? Institute a new weekly game night. And if you’re going there, don’t just stop at a traditional roll-the-dice-and-move-your-piece sort of game like Monopoly. Play a game that’s going to force some outrageousness and memorable fun.Drama Mayhem is what might happen if you crossed the improv skills and quick thinking of Charades with the humor of Apples to Apples.The game is simple: pick a card, then spend the next 60 seconds acting out that card’s instructions to impress the assigned judge. With your selected scene partner, you’ll play your role to the hilt, leaving the judge to decide who did the best job.Just in case that sounds too sedate, your scene is livened up with a quirk card, adding a whole new twist or flavor to the proceedings that can take your mini-play in a whole new direction. With 60 scenario cards and 60 quirk cards in your set, there are literally millions of possible match-up combinations to make sure the game always stays fresh and entertaining.So what happens when a customer thinks the product they just purchased is a fake? Or how about when a husband loses his wedding ring? Your acting chops better be on point -- because that’s the only way to amass the game points needed to be crowned the Drama Mayhem champion. Read the rest

Brian Roemmele writes that a large tech company has "just about zeroed out" the supply of plexiglass and office dividers. "Had an interesting Zoom today with a group of architects and office planers," Roemmele posted on Twitter. "A nearly 100% sell-out of plexiglass and plastic/cloth office dividers. One very large tech company—just today made an order for ~5000 that just about zeroed our all in the US. 3 month backlog."The future of more adaptable working arrangements centered on telecommuting, with all the good and bad elements this implies, was always a fantasy. The likely reality is everyone being hauled back into the office as quickly as possible, returning to translucent cubicles and an overwhelming array of theatrical medical-security protocols that boil down to distancing, relentless personal surveillance and scheduling. Read the rest

In 1932, 9-year-old Lennie Gwyther set out to ride a thousand kilometers to see the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Along the way he became a symbol of Australian grit and determination. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of Lennie's journey, and what it meant to a struggling nation.We'll also recall a Moscow hostage crisis and puzzle over a surprising attack.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon! Read the rest

I'm a huge fan of GiveDirectly, who does tremendous work with direct cash transfers for people in poverty — essentially, micro-scale experiments in Universal Basic Income, with long-term data impact studies. As they describe themselves:GiveDirectly is the first — and largest — nonprofit that lets donors like you send money directly to the world’s poorest. We believe people living in poverty deserve the dignity to choose for themselves how best to improve their lives — cash enables that choice. Since 2009, we’ve delivered over $140 million in cash directly into the hands of over 130,000 families living in poverty. Cash allows individuals to invest in what they need, instead of relying on aid organizations and donors thousands of miles away to choose for them. Isn’t this what you would prefer?Despite the fact that UBI has such a wide range of support — from Nixon to MLK, from Socialists to Libertarians — many people are still resistant to the idea of no-strings-attached monthly cash payments in lieu of other poverty-assistance/welfare programs. I think this largely has to do with America's 300-year experiment in villainizing the poor. But time and time again, UBI experiments have demonstrated that people do not waste their money on drugs and alcohol. They do tend to work about 5-7% fewer hours on average, but they fill the rest of their days by finding new ways to be productive and contribute to society without succumbing to soul-sucking jobs. Instead of stressing to make ends meet through desperate wage-slave labor, they invested their time, money, and energy into things like education and entrepreneurship, which makes everyone happier overall. Read the rest

Twenty years ago The Onion wrote that the "terse but expressive decals" depicting "peeing Calvin" are a "vital part of our national dialogue, used by millions of Americans to exchange viewpoints and ideas about the important issues of the day." Funny and true. Well, it occurred to me recently that our impish friend Calvin should be urinating all over COVID-19, and I don't think I'm wrong!Calvin (previously) peeing on Boing Boing Read the rest

For those still plodding along with some ancient, plug-in, standup vacuum cleaner like your parents used to use, you need to step into modern society.Look, we’re not even trying to talk you into programmable, autonomous vacuum bots or anything. We’re just talking about upgrading to a modern, proficient multi-purpose cleaning tool that handles all your business efficiently and doesn’t make you look like you should be tidying up in the Brady residence.By that criteria, the JASHEN V12 Cordless Stick Vacuum can definitely help you ditch the old Hoover and start cleaning up to 21st century standards. The JASHEN has a built-in 180-watt motor that serves up to 40 minutes of cordless vacuuming so you can deep clean the whole house on a single charge. The upgraded motorized brush works with the JASHEN's power suction to thoroughly pick up anything you don’t want on your carpets and floors, from pet hair and dirt to debris and tough-to-handle messes.It’s also packing a high-efficiency filtration system with a washable filter and an extra hygienic HEPA filter that locks in small particles with no leakage, trapping filter dust while expelling only fresh, purified air.Also unlike the old-school models, the JASHEN easily converts from the traditional stand-up configuration to a handheld vac, capable of cleaning furniture, upholstery and even ceilings. And at less than 7.5 pounds, it’s light enough for just about anyone to maneuver simply.As another plus over the old-style vacs, the JASHEN also runs super quietly, applying even more suction and power as models from back in the day, all without sounding like you’re pushing an aircraft carrier through your living room. Read the rest

Diamond and Silk are sibling vloggers famous for supporting Trump. They often appear on Fox News, a TV network that currently offers a round-the-clock diet of conspiracy theories and pseudoscience about the coronavirus pandemic. After relentlessly hyping a deadly quack remedy, chloroquine, that killed a number of covid-19 sufferers in quickly-abandoned trials, Fox News is feeling the heat. So today it fired Diamond and Silk, blaming them for the tenor of coverage it expected of them and duly received.The sudden split comes after the Trump-boosting siblings have come under fire for promoting conspiracy theories and disinformation about the coronavirus. “After what they’ve said and tweeted you won’t be seeing them on Fox Nation or Fox News anytime soon,” a source with knowledge of the matter told The Daily Beast. ... “Kudos if you make your vaccines for people and you want to help people,” Diamond exclaimed. “But I have a problem receiving any vaccine from any entity, especially anybody like Bill Gates who pushed for population control. The same thing that Margaret Sanger pushed for.”“Abortions! Genocide!” Silk shouted in response. Read the rest

“Zooopah.” A guy and his German Shepherd, just playing the flute, like you do.good girl plays the flute Read the rest

'The virus just isn't nearly as deadly as we thought it was'

Spoken Word with Electronics is an audio series delivering to you a two side recording of unusual stories paired with vintage modular electronic soundsWelcome back. A few years ago, in 2010, the radio station WFMU posted a wonderful set of songs on its incredible blog. Both songs had the identical title, "Marijuana, the Devil's Flower", or "MTDF" for short. I fell in love with both of these tracks and have pined for an opportunity to do something fun with them. For this week's program, hear MTDF turned into a shortwave radio broadcast signal, using an RF Nomad and an AModulator. Then hear MTDF looped oddly through a set of samplers. Here's a set of soundcloud links:Ethan Persoff · SPOKEN WORD WITH ELECTRONICS #7: Marijuana, The Devil's FlowerEthan Persoff · Episode 7, Introduction: "Setting Up Your Own Home Bomb Bunker"Ethan Persoff · Episode 7, Side A: "MARIJUANA" (The Shortwave Flower)Ethan Persoff · Episode 7, Second Segment: "I Have a Lot of Cereal to Share"Ethan Persoff · Episode 7, Side B: "MARIJUANA" (The Devil's Remix)I was going to call this one "The Bong Bunker" but thought better of it.Back next week and may all marijuana temptations only be heard, never consumed! - Ethan (Bandcamp/Soundcloud) Read the rest

'Tryin' Times,' Roberta Flack.Producer: Joel DornGuitar: John PizzarelliDrums: Ray LucasPiano: Robert FlackVocals: Roberta FlackBass Guitar: Ron CarterComposer: Donny HathawayComposer: Leroy HutsonLyrics:Tryin' times, what the world is talkin' aboutYou got confusion all over the land, yeahYou got mother against daughter, you got father against sonYou know the whole thing is getting out of handThen maybe folks wouldn't have to sufferIf there was more love for your brotherBut these are tryin' times, yeah, yeahYou got the riots in the ghetto, it's all aroundA whole lot of things that's wrong is going down, yes, it isI can't understand it from my point of view'Cause I think you should do unto othersAs you'd have them do unto youThen maybe folks wouldn't have to sufferIf there was more love for your brotherBut these are tryin' times, yes, it isI said man is always talking 'bout it's inhumanity to manBut what is he tryin' to do to make it a better man?Oh, just read the paper, turn on your TVYou see folks demonstrating about equalityBut maybe folks wouldn't have to sufferIf there was more love for your brotherBut these are tryin' timesTryin' times, yeah, that's what the world is talkin' aboutYou got confusion all over the landSource: LyricFindSongwriters: Donny Hathaway / Leroy HutsonTryin' Times lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc Read the rest

Over the past decade, the number of Americans who work remotely has almost doubled. And even 90 percent of employees say more flexibility in work schedules would increase worker morale. And of course, all those numbers came from the hazy days back before our current home quarantines. Three months ago, the ranks of the homeworker were growing. Now, they include almost everyone.If working from your house is the new normal, then The 2020 Ultimate Work From Home Starter Kit Bundle can help get you better acclimated.Whether you’re working to better manage personnel, resources, and projects remotely, spin-off a new business or hang a shingle for yourself as a freelance professional, this collection of 16 courses can help you make the transition.Leading a team or project with employees in distant locations is a 21st-century challenge, so courses like Leading Effective Meetings, Leading Effective 1-on-1 Meetings: Win Loyalty & Retention, and How to Hire and Manage Virtual Teams offering teachings to get you and your team members on the same page. You’ll not only uncover impactful ways of communicating with a group or one-on-one, but also how to identify and cultivate effective remote workers to get the job done without heavy-handed tactics.To assure that sales stay on track when in-person meetings can’t happen, the training in The Complete Copywriting Workshop For Increased Online Sales, Small Business Lead Generation and Cold Email: B2B and B2C, and How To Run Google Adwords Facebook Ads and Bing Ads Using PPC lays out proven guidelines for creating marketing materials that work as well as methods for engaging and persuading potential customers online. Read the rest

On November 30 1954 in Alabama, a nine pound meteorite broke through the ceiling of Anne Hodges' living room, bounced off her stereo system, and hit her in the side while she was asleep on the sofa. Hodges suffered a bad bruise. The National Museum of Natural History has a piece of the rock in their collection and, as Smithsonian magazine reports, it's long been thought that Hodges is the only individual in recorded history confirmed to have been hit by a meteorite. Now though, researchers at Ege University, Trakya University, and the SETI Institute report that a fellow in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq is actually the first documented case of a meteorite striking a human being. It happened on August 22, 1888 and unfortunately the falling meteorite killed the man and left another paralyzed. From the scientific paper in Meteoritics & Planetary Science:[The evidence comes from] three manuscripts written in Ottoman Turkish that were extracted from the General Directorate of State Archives of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey. This event was also reported to Abdul Hamid II (34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire) by the governor of Sulaymaniyah. These findings suggest other historical records may still exist that describe other events that caused death and injuries by meteorites.image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell Read the rest

The problem with using my iPhone as a flashlight is that I can't fit it in my mouth when I need both hands free. That's why I keep a few flashlights like this around. Read the rest

Jerome Licini is a professor at Lehigh University. He and one of his students developed an apparatus to demonstrate why empty shampoo bottles tip over so easily. The reason: empty bottles have much less mass than full bottles, and their center of gravity is higher so they are basically begging to fall over at the slightest touch. Read the rest

In 1995 I wrote an article in Wired about the Museum of Bad Art, which showcased art found in thrift stores. I'm glad to see the tradition of curating thrift store arts and crafts is still going on at MoBA. And here is an unrelated but similar Instagram account with many examples of mindbending works of primitive art. It also includes a lot of creepy products and other ephemera, which adds to the entertainment value. Read the rest

The Muffaletta, as created and prepared by Central Grocery on Decatur in New Orleans, is my second favorite sandwich on earth. I recently spent a week in New Orleans trying Muffaletta at various locations to see if I might possibly like one better than the OG sandwich sold across from the French Market. I could not.While the location may be part of the experience, and I certainly do love sitting at a counter in the back of Central Grocery, drinking an Abita Amber and enjoying a Muffaletta with Zapp's Voodoo Heat chips, I figured I could make this sandwich at home.The ingredients are commonly available. Mostly the sandwich is made of cured meats and cheese, the tricky parts seemed to be the olive tapenade and the bread. Bread? I figured I could handle the bread, and when I saw the olive salad available for sale online...Sandwich ho!Boing Boing's MuffalettaYou are going to need about 36 hrs for this one.Sponge:⅛ tsp yeast1 cup warm water1 cup bread flourDough:3 ½ cups bread flour2 Tbs shortening1 ½ Tbs salt1 cup warm water¼ tsp yeastBefore you bake:1 egg½ cup waterAbout 4oz each of Mortadella, Genoa Salami, Hot Cappicola. Also sliced provolone, and 1 jar of Central Grocery olive tapenade.Mix all the starter ingredients in a medium-size bowl, cover and set on your counter overnight.Combine the dough ingredients with your starter in a large-size bowl, or your standing kitchen mixer if you have one. Read the rest

An organizer of protests against State efforts to minimize the loss of life during the current global pandemic has tested positive for COVID-19.Said protestor was unsurprisingly unclear about her intentions to follow her state-mandated quarantine for carriers of the virus.WCNC:"As an asymptomatic COVID19 positive patient (quarantine ends 4/26) another concern I have is the treatment of COVID patients as it relates to other communicable diseases. I have been forced to quarantine in my home for 2 weeks," she wrote on her social media page."I have been told not to participate in public or private accommodations as requested by the government, and therefore denied my 1st amendment right of freedom of religion," she wrote."It has been insinuated by others that if I go out, I could be arrested for denying a quarantine order," she wrote. Read the rest

I've never heard of the Disney animated feature Fun and Fancy Free. It's from 1947 and stars Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Jiminy Cricket, and Goofy. (It is also the last Disney cartoon in which Walt himself voiced Mickey) Above, as seen in which Mickey Mouse Goofy and Donald duck have barely any food so they must split one slice of bread and one bean among the three of them.Below, someone re-created the scene in real life:Mickey mouse and friends, IRL from r/combinedgifsImage: Reddit Read the rest

Why do dogs often walk in circles before lying down for bed? Turns out, it's a survival trait inherited from their evolutionary ancestor the wolf. From Southern Living:“Turning in circles before lying down is an act of self-preservation in that the dog may innately know that he needs to position himself in a certain way to ward off an attack in the wild,” notes [veterinarian and Animal Center co-owner Lynn] Buzhardt. “Turning around 360 degrees also provides an opportunity to take one last look for potential predators before bedtime.”[...]In addition to self-protection, circling and nesting help dogs in the wild to make their sleeping space more comfortable. Undomesticated dogs don’t know the luxury of fluffy pillow and plush cushions—to make a “bed,” they mat down grass, clear away rocks and branches, and reposition brush. This practice helps dogs uncover any hidden threats like snakes or other critters, and it also allows them create a nice sleeping niche. Read the rest

Augmented reality startup Magic Leap was founded in 2014. It demonstrated a new kind of technology called "light field signal generation" that promised to be far superior to existing augmented reality and virtual reality technology. It received $2.6 billion in funding from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, and Google.In 2018 Magic Leap released a headset called the Magic Leap One, which almost everyone was disappointed with. The problem with it, according to this Tech Crunch article is that Magic Leap pulled a bait-and-switch. It did not use light field signal generation. It used the same kind of technology found in other augmented reality headsets released by Microsoft and others years earlier.It appears Magic Leap was unable to sufficiently miniaturize the groundbreaking technology. From Tech Crunch:As The Information’s Reed Albergotti revealed more than three years ago, “The Beast” was Magic Leap’s original demo box. It was everything people said. It was stunning, dreamlike, breakthrough technology. And it weighed “several hundred pounds.”“The Beast” was followed by “The Cheesehead,” which fit on a human head, and “showed they could miniaturize the light field signal generator they’d invented” … but still weighed “tens of pounds,” obviously far too heavy for any real-world applications. (There are pictures of both in the linked CNET piece.)“The Beast” and “The Cheesehead” help explain the multiple rounds of massive venture investment. But then — could Magic Leap miniaturize their breakthrough technology further, to anything actually releasable?Clearly they could not, and that’s the crux of the matter, the answer to how and why Magic Leap raised $2.6 Read the rest

Studio Ghibli fans can now conduct their online meetings from Miyazaki land. Choose a still from a variety of films including My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, Kiki's Delivery Service and more, and make it your background. (Images offered here for free.) Thanks Studio Ghibli! Image: Studio Ghibli / Spirited Away Read the rest

ETA prime has been using a Pinebook Pro laptop with an ARM CPU. It has an aluminum shell and 14.1-inch display. Overall, he's impressed with the performance, but says he had a few missed-click problems with the trackpad, and isn't sure if it's a hardware or software issue.But he says he would rather have the Lenovo Ideapad S130, a similarly priced Windows laptop that "crushes the Pinebook Pro" in terms of performance.I went to the Pine64 website and learned that they also have an 11.6 inch Linux laptop for $100.Image: YouTube Read the rest

On Sunday, police in Paso Robles, California were called to Fatte's Pizza after an armed robber made off with cash from the register. Later that evening, the cops apprehended the suspect, one Darryl Allan, 38, who apparently owns a Fatte's Pizza just 15 minutes away in Atascadero. He had stopped at In-N-Out for a bite."Upon their search of the vehicle police found a gun, large amounts of cash, along with drug paraphernalia," reports KSBY News. Read the rest

Of the 7,500 people tested statewide for antibodies against coronavirus, 14.9% have tested positive, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced at a press briefing on Monday.Coronavirus antibodies are reported to be present in almost 25% of all New York City residents, said governor Andrew Cuomo at a press briefing on Monday.The governor also addressed when the state would lift coronavirus restrictions throughout the state.“We want to un-PAUSE. May 15 is when the PAUSE regulations expire statewide. I will extend them in many parts of the state. But in some parts of the state, some regions, you can make the case that we should un-PAUSE on May 15. But you have to be smart about it,” Cuomo said. “Start thinking through what it means to reopen.”From CBS-NY: Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that the number of statewide random antibody tests has expanded to 7,500, which reveals a better picture of the extent of coronavirus spread in New York.Cuomo said 14.9% of those tested statewide tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, which is up from the initial 13.9% statewide when a previous sample of 3,000 people was done on April 22. Cuomo said the 1% increase is statistically in the margin of error.Regionally, the results suggest: 24.7% positive in New York City 15.1% positive in Westchester/Rockland 14.4% positive on Long Island 3.2% positive in the rest of the stateThe governor said he’s going to conduct antibody surveys of 1,000 NYPD and FDNY personnel to determine the infection rate in those organizations. Read the rest

Mark Di Stefano of the Financial Times is accused by The Independent of accessing private Zoom meetings held by The Independent and The Evening Standard as journalists were learning how coronavirus restrictions would affect them.A Financial Times reporter ‘accessed private Zoom calls at Independent and Evening Standard,’ the Independent (UK) reports today.The Independent contacted the Financial Times and Mark Di Stefano, neither would comment.Excerpt:Log files show an account registered to Di Stefano’s FT.com email address joined the private video call for Independent staff on Thursday for 16 seconds. The caller’s video was disabled, but journalists saw his name flash briefly on screen before he left the meeting.Five minutes later, a separate account joined the call, this time unnamed. Again, video was switched off so that only a black square was displayed among the screens showing up to 100 people who had been invited to attend. The anonymous user account, which remained in the meeting until the end, was later shown to be linked to the mobile phone used by the same Financial Times reporter.Watch moreDi Stefano posted the news on Twitter while The Independent’s staff were still being told details of and reasons behind salary cuts and furloughs, and before the editor, Christian Broughton, and senior management at the title had contacted other journalists who could not join the video call, including those based in the US.Shortly afterwards, the Financial Times published a report by Di Stefano, including confidential details about the company’s advertising downturn and quoting chief executive Zach Leonard. Read the rest

"The Name is Bootsy, Baby" is the fantastic 1996 pilot for a cartoon about the interplanetary adventures of Bootsy Collins, otherworldly bass player for Parliament-Funkadelic. Made for MTV but never aired on the channel, the cartoon was executive produced by Abby Terkuhle (Daria, Beavis and Butt-head) and also featured the voice of Mike Judge (Beavis and Butt-head, King of the Hill)! Bonus below, Bootsy's appearance on the animated documentary series "Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus": Read the rest

Philadelphia Flyers' mascot / Real American Folk Hero Gritty has been passing his (its?) quarantine time with daily 15-minute Instagram livestreams. Topics range from Spelling Bees, to Charades, to Golf Tips, to … Gritty literally explaining the meta-ness of his (its?) own beloved existence.It's every bit as glorious as it sounds. Praise be to Gritty. Read the rest

Becky Ames, mayor of Beaumont, Texas, was spotted last Tuesday visiting The Nail Bar, a salon that should not be open because of lockdown rules imposed by Beaumost, Texas, mayor Becky Ames."A photo appearing to show Beaumont Mayor Becky Ames getting a manicure was shared on Instagram this week," reports 12 News's Scott Eslinger.Mayor Ames told 12News earlier this week she did go to the nail salon after talking to the owner about how to remove an old manicure set. She needed acetone, and the salon owner said she would leave some out for her.Instead, the owner had the solution set up in a bowl inside. The mayor says she was in and out in 10 minutes, and the owner was the only person in the salon. The back door was open and the salon was dark.Ames "sent photos to 12News, reiterating that she did not have her nails done." The photos are of Ames' visibly peeling and calloused nails and need not be reproduced here. In the meantime, an apology:My heartfelt apology to all of the citizens of Beaumont for my lapse in judgement on Tuesday, April 21st.I promise that there was no malice intended. I should never have entered the salon last Tuesday.I did not intend to take personal privilege while asking others to sacrifice and for that I am truly remorseful.As an elected official I am held to a higher standard, I regret my action that day. I am honestly sorry and I pray that you will forgive me. Read the rest

The Daily Mail, a UK tabloid, ran a story accusing British athlete James Cracknell of breaking social distancing rules in a visit with his parents. It illustrated this with the above photograph, showing Cracknell sat inches from his father. The Daily Mail, however, fabricated this image by photoshopping what Cracknell actually posted, below. The real photo was, in fact, a humorous illustration of the social distancing measures the Daily Mail accused Cracknell of breaking.Here’s a game of spot the difference. 1) @dailymail ‘s pic of me & my dad 2) the actual picture. Socially distant, no physical contact & was bringing them food. Been a long month of no contact, my mum worked for the NHS her whole career so she was ruthless about distance. Thanks pic.twitter.com/4cWifBGzMa— James Cracknell (@jamescracknell) April 26, 2020The blatant, pervasive, smirking fakeness of UK newspaper reportage is one of those things that everyone accepts but never quite groks. It's not just the occasional photo, but the basic formula for content generation. Even editors who take it too far, such as Piers Morgan, tend to fail upward after a perfunctory moment of disgrace.In this case, the defense upon which the Mail depends is that Cracknell's visit was still against the rules. The fact of this isn't clear, as Cracknell claims he bought them food, but this defense works with Britons delighted to be thusly policed. Read the rest

Over the weekend, Trump railed about journalists on Twitter in a typo-strewn rant in which he repeatedly confused the Pulitzer Prize with the Nobel Prize (which lacks a journalism category) and spelled Nobel "Noble" throughout. Trump (or a handler) has deleted the tweets, but they live on in the archives. Read the rest

You probably heard that the U.S. Postal Service is tanking, expecting to run out of money by October 2020. Interestingly, it's not funded by taxpayers, but entirely through the sale of postage, gifts, and services. So, now there's a growing movement to help save them by purchasing postage stamps and other products from their online store. Like this Dog Mail Carrier Costume for $17.99. So, do your part, dog owners! P.S. I'll take one of these, please!Thanks, Carolee! Read the rest

Phil the enormous malamute hasn't taken a bath in months, is increasingly in need of a bath, and has no intention whatsoever of having a bath. SPOILER: Ultimately, Phil is bathed. Phil's vengeance begins at exactly 14:00. Read the rest

My friend Matt Dibble works for Voice of America and put together this little report about some streets in Oakland neighborhoods being designated as "soft streets." Through-traffic is not allowed and resident drivers using are warned that their neighbors may be out playing in the streets.I suspect we will see many more creative solutions like this as we move into the next phase of living with COVID-19 and figuring ways to be out of the house while maintaining social distance.Image: YouTube Read the rest

When you were 10 and your mom demanded you finish your vegetables or go to your room, you were mad. Even as kids, we hated it when we were ordered to do something. Car insurance is a federal mandate, yet that’s only one of the reasons why most Americans would rather do just about anything than deal with car insurance.Over a quarter (28%) of Americans — 28 percent — think they pay too much for car insurance, yet almost 40 percent say they haven’t checked their current rates against competitors in at least three years. 17 percent have never checked at all. Ever.The Zebra wants to change that car insurance aversion mindset. The nation’s leading car insurance comparison site, they’ve developed a free, safe, simple way to make sure users are getting the absolute best price on car insurance. And if they’re not, The Zebra paves the way for any driver to get the lowest rate available anywhere.Through The Zebra website, users identify their vehicle make and model as well as where they live. With that handful of data, The Zebra stretches its legs, tapping their relationships with over 200 different national and regional insurance providers to find out which will offer gives that user the best possible coverage plan.The Zebra checks in with providers like Farmers, Liberty Mutual, Allstate, and GEICO, crunching the numbers and offering all the best coverage offers in a matter of seconds.For users who find an option they like, The Zebra will facilitate the switch, working with the new provider to hammer out the policy details while all the user has to do is sign on the dotted line to make it official. Read the rest

The mark of true greatness in tech is longevity. Because if you’ve survived more than an 18-month product cycle and endured...well, you’re one of the lucky few. That’s part of why the continuing devotion and market dominance of Microsoft Excel is such a historic story.Today, 35 years after its introduction, this spreadsheet titan is arguably just as popular and vital to the daily health of American business as it was in the 80s. And considering how many competitors have come and gone in that time, it’s safe to say it’s an app you should know. Because hey, it could well be around for another 35 years.eLearnExcel has become one of the best-known sources for understanding everything that makes Excel special — and the eLearnExcel: The 2020 Excel Certification School Bundle can help make sure your Excel skills are deep, on point and worthy of a place on your resume.International Academy of Computer Training has trained over 800,000 users in the fine art of Excel over the past quarter-century. It’s even trusted by Microsoft itself to teach its employees how to manage Excel like a pro, which should be all the confidence in this training that you would need.The course takes more than 60 hours and is powered by nearly 300 video lessons, highlighting all the basic and advanced operations any Excel guru must understand.From step-by-step basics to everyday time-saving tips to more expert-level skills like must-know formulas, functions, pivot tables, and scalability, the course comes with a detailed presentation with example projects to help embed your learning. Read the rest

The number one rule for anyone wishing to be in Trump's good graces is to defend every lie and stupid thing he says. Defense tactics include: doubling down on the lie, blaming the fake media for twisting their god emperor's words, or wondering aloud why people can't understand that he was just kidding. In this case, Dr. Deborah Birx, U.S. Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy, used a combination of the first two tactics to evade the question. She did a pretty good job, meaning it's unlikely that Trump will issue a "Dumb Deborah" tweet in response.Image: YouTube Read the rest

From national and local news anchors to Ellen Degeneres, from Saturday Night Live to the all-star Together At Home concert, we’re learning another new reality of our 2020 entertainment world: everyone has their own home production equipment these days.Granted, it’s often just an iPhone, a mic and some extra lighting, but the shuttering of Hollywood and most television production has sparked a whole new DIY-driven aesthetic across our screens — and even now, it doesn’t take a lot anymore to make even your own home vlogs look right on par with Jimmy Fallon or Anderson Cooper.In fact, you can take a big step toward having all the pieces of a brilliant home video hub with the U-STREAM Home Streaming Studio with 10" Ring Light and Tripod package.It all begins with an adjustable tripod stand grips your phone to capture just the right shooting angle. The stand extends from 18 up to 52 inches, allowing you to maneuver into the position that best fits the physical demands of your environment. The phone holder also features a non-slip rubber grip, so your device stays locked in during streaming.Of course, no video looks good without the proper lighting, so your phone and stand are also haloed by an all-purpose 10-inch ring light. Equipped with three distinct lighting options — white, warm yellow, and warm white — you can fire up this ring light and get just the right amount of fill, shadow, and ambiance for a perfect shot. Read the rest

While all the gloom and doom of our COVID-19 quarantine realities can definitely put a damper on life as we know it, all this time spent at home doesn’t have to go to waste.As the world tries to slow the spread of the virus, this would also be a good time to slow down a bit yourself and take a little personal stock. Odds are, there’s some area, or possible, multiple areas of your pre-lockdown life that could use addressing — and you’ll find no better roadmap to getting all those deficiencies on track than the training in The Ultimate Life Hacker Master Class Bundle.This collection features 11 courses featuring 44 hours of instruction all aimed at striking the work-life-productivity-efficiency balance that we all seek.If your career could use some work, four courses here will help you bolster those professional aspirations. Create Your Dream Job: Hack the Job Search and Skip the Ladder teaches some of the most powerful, simple techniques used by some of the world’s most successful people, while The Complete Presentation and Public Speaking Course covers how to give great speeches for both business and personal presentations.Branding You: How to Build Your Multimedia Internet Empire examines the Branding You™ Strategy, a paradigm for creating and managing media that drives traffic; and The Complete Job Interviewing Skills Master Class Course prepares you to walk into the job interview of your dreams and absolutely crush it.If maybe your productivity and organizational skills need some attention, the Productivity Master Class: How to Powerfully Get Things Done can help you dig in on a 4-step framework for immediately getting more done towards your goals. Read the rest

Considering the human race’s utter dependence on coffee, it’s no surprise that more than 40 percent of American homes have a single-cup coffee brewing system. Unfortunately, most of those machines take pods made from various plastic and aluminum materials that aren’t easily recyclable. And while 39,000 of those pods are made every minute worldwide, about 29,000 of those pods will ultimately end up in landfills, where they’ll all sit for up to 500 years.Those are not numbers that’ll make you feel good about your obsession with the perfect cup of coffee. Thankfully, manufacturers are taking note and we’re beginning to see more and more coffee makers start producing compostable pods to combat the ill effects on our environment.For example, you can try out a collection of offerings from Australia’s tastiest sustainable and compostable coffee pod maker Pod and Parcel with a 60-pod sample pack.Pod and Parcel use specialty-grade Arabica beans roasted in the coffee mecca of Melbourne to create six of their most satisfying flavors: Mbeya, Huehuetenango, Bezzera, Florentino, Munro, and Bancroft. Matching blends originating from around the world, each flavor producing intensities from rich and balanced up to bold and assertive.The collection features 10 pods of each variety, with each ready to brew in its own biodegradable and compostable pod. The pod capsules engineered to work with all original style Nespresso coffee machines are made from plant-based materials that break down in just 90 days, shrinking your carbon footprint and assuring you’re part of the ecological solution, not the problem. Read the rest

Reuters reports that China dispatched medical experts to North Korea to "advise on leader Kim Jong-Un", suspected to be very ill after a heart operation. The trip by the Chinese doctors and officials comes amid conflicting reports about the health of the North Korean leader. Reuters was unable to immediately determine what the trip by the Chinese team signalled in terms of Kim’s health. A delegation led by a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department left Beijing for North Korea on Thursday, two of the people said. The department is the main Chinese body dealing with neighbouring North Korea. Japanese weekly Shukan Gendai claims Kim is in a "vegetative state" and unlikely to recover.The Chinese expert told the magazine that Kim clutched his chest and fell to the ground on a visit to the countryside earlier this month. A doctor accompanying Kim performed CPR and took him to a nearby hospital.Kim, believed to be 36, needed a stent procedure, which calls for placing a tube into a congested blood vessel to allow blood to keep flowing to the heart, according to Shukan Gendai. Read the rest