Boing Boing

If you needed another reason to be scared straight into practicing impeccable sterile technique in an effort to reduce your risk of COVID-19, read on. For those of us who are immunocompromised (raises hand) or over sixty (reluctantly raises hand again) this is sobering stuff. I think I'll go wash my hands again.Of all the possible compounding effects of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, the cytokine storm is one of the most feared. An immune system overreaction in which the body is flooded with the eponymous signaling molecules, those who suffer a cytokine storm are at risk of dying at the hand of their own immune system, as an indirect effect of the virus they are fighting.My lab work was stunningly bad. A normal white count might be between 4.5 and 10. My white cell count was at 2,000. My lymphocytes — which are the cells that fight in a virus, normally fall somewhere between 1000 and 1,500 — they were under 200. I don't know if you know the term but the early cells that fight infection are called "bands," and you don't have [them] normally — I had 20% bands. My platelet count was around 100,000, which is low, and I knew I was in trouble.In the current context, we believe we have a biomarker of this condition, a serum level of a non-specific but is an acute phase reactant called serum ferritin. It looks like it may be to be one of the more reliable biomarkers of cytokine dysregulation. Read the rest

As usual, TikTok is a bit ahead of the curve. I.e., this is how the younger people in your house are likely self-educating right now. (This vid is 14hrs old, w/6.7M views and 740K likes.) pic.twitter.com/J09RIgJyCR— David Hobby (@strobist) April 3, 2020While I have nothing against the classic cowboy robber bandana mask, this technique, while it does require two hair rubber bands, is genius."How to Fold a No-Sew Bandana Face Mask" (Make:) Read the rest

This footage was captured from a demo tape used by home entertainment dealers showing off the high quality of the new D-Theater (D-VHS) digital video recording. Enabling the recording and display of HD content, D-Theater/D-VHS was the VHS videocassette format's last gasp. From Youtube Pedant:In 2002 D-Theater launched in the US - the dealers needed a demo tape of HD footage. JVC reused some HD video that had been shot as a demo for the Japanese HD market back in 1993. This footage would have most likely been originally used for a HiVision MUSE demo (an HD Broadcast, Tape & Laserdisc format). You can determine that the year is 1993 by the adverts in Times Square - The Radio 501 CD that's advertised on a billboard came out in 1993 and Paper Moon is playing at the Marquis Theater.(Thanks, UPSO!) Read the rest

In the early 2010s, I wrote a play called True Believers that was kind of a send-up and a love letter to comic-con culture. The play had a full production in Boston in 2012 (closing on the weekend of San Diego Comic-Con, when they first announced the Guardians of the Galaxy, which totally ruined the meta-level "I Am Groot" gag in the script), as well as staged readings at fringe festivals across the country, from New York to Chicago to Valdez, Alaska.I later tried to turn that script into a novel. It was an interesting writing experience — trying to adapt your own work across mediums, from one that's explicitly external to one that's largely internal is a weird challenge, to say the least — and ultimately, nothing really came of the manuscript.But now that we're all quarantine, and now that comic books themselves have also been quarantined for the foreseeable future, I've decided to serialize it on Medium, broken down into digestible chunks. The first 10 chapters are out now, and they each take (by Medium's calculations) about 4-9 minutes to read. I'll be adding new chapters every day through the end of the month. If you're looking for some nerdy laughs and nostalgia, it could be a delightful way to pass the time right now.Here's a fuller synopsis of the story, in case you're not convinced:It's the weekend of the big annual comic book convention, and Chad Mailer is a young professional comic book writer who hit his career peak five years ago with a series that he never actually finished, and he now wishes to re-ignite his career. Read the rest

Hey, John Krasinski: quit everything else you're doing and become a full-time Youtuber, please.Previously: Good news: John Krasinski has a whole bunch of good news Read the rest

Yesterday's outing inspired me to make a more fashion-forward mask, with distance warnings and an equalizer effect responding to the sound of my voice. Also a goofy mouth graphic because why not? pic.twitter.com/URDfQhbovO— Chelsea Klukas (@chelscore) April 6, 2020Chelsea Klukas is a product design manager at Oculus and she made this cool facemask with a color LED display.Here's a tutorial! Read the rest

Around 1pm on Tuesday, March 31, a 44-year-old train engineer named Eduardo Moreno allegedly derailed a train at full-speed, careening it towards the USNS Mercy, a Navy medical ship for COVID-19 patients that was anchored in the Port of Los Angeles. Fortunately, Moreno's train never actually reached the boat and no one was hurt, although did crash through some concrete barriers and leak a substantial amount of fuel into the parking lot.According to ABC News:Moreno allegedly told officers and FBI investigators that he deliberately derailed the train because he was suspicious of the Mercy's intentions and thought it was actually part of a government takeover, the complaint said."Moreno stated that he acted alone and had not pre-planned the attempted attack," according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Central District of California. "While admitting to intentionally derailing and crashing the train, he said he knew it would bring media attention and 'people could see for themselves,' referring to the Mercy."In an interview with FBI agents, Moreno stated that "he did it out of the desire to ‘wake people up,’" according to the complaint.In other words, Moreno was driven to potential mass destruction by his dogged belief in a conspiracy theory, much like PizzaGate and the MAGA Bomber.Upon reading this news, I immediately thought of the Trolley Problem, an ethical dilemma used in philosophy discussions where a (hypothetical) runaway train or trolley is on course to kill a certain people, but there is an opportunity to flip the switch and divert the train, which would cause some other sort of damage. Read the rest

How am I just finding out about this now? pic.twitter.com/kOOWqRyQkN— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) April 5, 2020If you lack a Chip Clip, bulldog clip, clothespin, paperclip, or rubber band, this folding technique is a great solution. Of course, an even better solution is just to eat the whole damn bag. Read the rest

I fell for the BuzzFeed bait – "Sorry, but you won’t be able to pass this quiz if you’re over 30" – and took the quiz with a fair amount of confidence. And they got me – I failed miserably. I only got a couple of questions correct, including the free pass about a magazine that goes back to the 1970s (mistake on their part).What about you? Are you over or under 30? Take the quiz and find out!And don't look at this YouTube video until after the quiz - they might consider it cheating. Read the rest

Here are two lists of e-books being made freely available on-line. Please add more in the comments!PublicBooks.org's Public Books DatabaseThis is a list of academic presses making their books and research freely available.Jim C. Hines' list of Free and Legal Science Fiction and FantasyHines has collected a list of authors providing their work online for free.Naturally, your public library is a great resource and the Libby app is my best friend for e-books. We will also find that the public library gives incredible access to movies, music, and periodicals via the series of tubes we all know and love. Read the rest

Choose your fighter pic.twitter.com/l4i3FWP0Fl— zd alienbabe (@tifffanycuh) April 4, 2020The United States was woefully unprepared for a pandemic, as evidenced by these desperate attempts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Read the rest

Theatre companies have been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus quarantine. While the communal accessibility of theatre is a large part of the artform's pedigree and appeal, professional productions are often tight for money, even in the best of times. With limited runs, and plenty of hands-on-deck required on a nightly basis, many professional theatres in America rely heavily on donations — and right now, those are drying up, too.My wife, Bevin O'Gara, is the Producing Artistic Director for a small professional theatre, and has spent these last few weeks trying to figure out ways to salvage the company. Plenty of supposedly-helpful people call her every day and say "Why don't you just share the videos from the plays?", not realizing how that actually gets into complications regarding intellectual property rights and union policies. (Consider: actors, directors, and designers have already signed contracts promising them a certain amount of money for a certain thing; playwrights often license out their work based on a pre-determined number of performances. So who gets how much of a cut from streaming rights? Who gets to decide which performance was the best, and thus worthy of the stream? Plays don't always read as well on video, either — actors do different work on stage than on screen, and some might be concerned about their performances being captured and shared forever.)My wife recently directed a production of Cry It Out by Molly Smith-Meltzer, a new play about motherhood and class issues that's been well-reviewed all across the country. Read the rest

Impeached and manifestly unfit U.S. President Donald John Trump stopped the U.S. medical expert Dr. Anthony Fauci from answering a question about hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug Trump is pushing, during Trump's daily COVID-19 standup act in front of the cameras. In a surreal disinformation briefing, this was an especially surreal moment.Trump spent much of Sunday's briefing yet again promoting the unproven treatment for novel coronavirus, asking over and over, “What do we have to lose?”This, as American voters should recall, was the line he kept using about why Black voters should vote for his racist ass in 2016. He's lying and he knows it, and this phrase is a tell.From the Washington Post:So toward the end, a CNN reporter turned to Anthony S. Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, for his opinion on the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine with a sharper question: “What is the medical evidence?”Standing at the microphone, Fauci opened his mouth — but before he could speak, the answer came out of Trump’s instead.“Do you know how many times he’s answered that question?” Trump cut in. “Maybe 15.”A tight smile stretched across Fauci’s face. His eyes, framed by a pair of wire-rimmed glasses, flicked quickly to Trump. He glanced back at the reporter, who was saying to the president, “The question is for the doctor. … He’s your medical expert, correct?”Fauci’s smile, for just a moment, was all teeth now. Trump raised his finger sternly, telling the journalist, “You don’t have to ask the question,” and so Fauci didn’t answer it, and the news conference shuffled right along. Read the rest

Morgue space overload.

If this is what a small project looks like, I shudder to imagine what a large project is.Classic Cylon Basestar. And a Saturn V rocket. Impressive. Deeply impressive. A small project I've just finished.... Read the rest

This 'rona GIF has me screaming. I don't know who created it.*screaming*I found it on IMGUR. Thank you, @Morchel03.You are welcome. Read the rest

British Prime minister Boris Johnson, hospitalized with "persistent symptoms" of coronavirus infection, is reportedly "in good spirits" but has to stay there for more tests.The prime minister's official spokesman said he remained in hospital "under observation", and described Russian reports that Mr Johnson had been placed on a ventilator as "disinformation".He is continuing to receive updates and briefings in hospital, the spokesman added. As an exercise in media studies, what might "in good spirits" be a Britishy euphemism for?ANSWER: Drunk or otherwise intoxicated. Jesus, what did you think it meant? Read the rest

The video conferencing app Zoom has become suddenly ubiquitous over the past few weeks, as the coronavirus shutdown closes schools, businesses, and keeps us all indoors. Shares of Zoom dropped 9% on Monday, adding to their sharp declines in recent days, as security and privacy vulnerabilities are reported. There is also new competition from other established video conferencing apps, who have access to more capital than Zoom. Skype, owned by Microsoft, is but one.The stock had surged to a record high in early March, but after critical reports last week revealed the company’s sketchy data privacy practices, investors are spooked. Now, more than a third of the company’s market value has now been erased from its record high.From Reuters:Brokerage Credit Suisse downgraded Zoom Video Communications Inc’s stock to “underperform” from “neutral”. Analysts, on average, rate the stock “hold,” according to Refinitiv data. “While implied new customer growth may seem undemanding compared to recently disclosed 20x participant growth, we expect much of the recent surge will prove ephemeral, and/or comes from free users or education, which are very difficult to monetize,” Credit Suisse analysts wrote in a note.Last week, at least two U.S. state attorneys had sought information from Zoom following multiple reports that questioned its privacy and security. Some school districts in the U.S. have started to ban the app for online learning from home because of growing security concerns, while the New York City Department of Education said teachers should instead work through Microsoft Teams, Washington Post reported on Saturday. Read the rest

This music video is delightful. Wait for the surprise ending. “The Harry Potter Theme but it's Played on Drinking Glasses,” by Fin Draper Music on Instagram. March 7, 2020.YouTube: Fin DraperTikTok: finlidrappermusicTwitter: fin_draper Read the rest

Nice to see Jamie Hyneman still getting TV gigs. Read the rest

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who tested positive for coronavirus 10 days ago and has remained in isolation since, was today hospitalized for treatment of "persistent symptoms." He is still formally in charge of the government, but the BBC reports that Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will be chairing Monday's cabinet meeting. Read the rest

Gather round, young and old — and hear tales of bygone days. Back in olden times, citizens would mass at a house of coffee, wherein skilled java alchemists would concoct special blends and apply artisanal wizardry to make each steaming chalice an appointment for the taste buds.Granted, said wizards, once known as baristas, were ungifted in the art of immaculate spelling —but their inspired, almost supernatural ways of the bean were legend.People are sequestered in their homes now, but the myth of the fabled barista lives on. Assembled below, find assorted relics of the dark art of brewing, each dedicated to keeping the time-honored practice of drinkable beans alive for future generations. Spread the word of this epic saga and own such artifacts in your own home.Gourmia Coffee MakersHeadquartered in Brooklyn, New York, upstart small appliance maker Gourmia has spent the past few years establishing itself as a name player in the boutique coffee making field and now have an array of makers available for all shades of coffee-loving activity.For the basic set-it-and-forget-it crowd, the Gourmia GCM2865 12-Cup Programmable Coffee Maker ($49.99; originally $59.99) is equipped with a programmable timer to have up to 12 cups of steaming hot coffee ready the minute you get up each morning. And the Gourmia GCM3600 Single Serve Coffee and Tea Maker ($59.99; originally $119.99) easily brews either coffee or tea at the push of a button as well as serving up single-serve k cups as well.If your tastes run toward the more pure, 12-hour slow soak of cold brew coffee, the Gourmia GCM6850 Digital Accelerated Cold Brew Coffee Maker ($59.99; Read the rest

"What We Do in the Shadows," Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi's beautifully stupid vampire comedy, is out for more blood in season 2. The second season of the screwy, sharp-witted docu-satire premiers on FX on April 15, 10pmOver the course of the season, the vampires will try to find their way in a world of human Super Bowl parties, internet trolls, an energy vampire who gets a promotion and becomes drunk on power and of course, all the ghosts, witches, necromancers, zombies and shadowy cloaked assassins who roam freely in the Tri-State area. Is Guillermo destined to be a vampire or a vampire hunter? Or maybe just a familiar for the rest of his life?"Bat!"Image: Screengrab Read the rest

Gets none more relevant. Read the rest

The last few weeks have given us all a lot to think about. As we watched stores close, Costco lines snake through parking lots and items like hand sanitizer and toilet paper disappear everywhere like they were Lady Gaga tickets, there’s one significant takeaway it’s safe to say we all can agree on.We should all be better prepared.From disaster go bags to water and food stockpiles to emergency communications, we could almost all stand to be a little better equipped to handle a disaster or prolonged break in our normal day-to-day lives.Whether it’s facing nature’s fury like a tornado, hurricane or earthquake or a medical crisis like our current problem, a quality first aid kit needs to be at the top of anyone’s emergency supply list.If you’re looking for an assortment of life-saving supplies that extend beyond simple bandages and gauze, The Solo ($42.99; originally $50) stands ready. Lightweight, flight-approved and perfectly sized to stash in a suitcase, car trunk or even a tote bag, it unfurls into a true mini triage kit, including shears, medication, bandages, a suture kit, creams and ointments and more.For treating anything from bleeding to a blocked airway, sprains, burns or even just surviving against the elements, The Solo has the basic necessities to help get everyone through.However, if your medical needs should go beyond the basics, The Recon ($199; originally $250) is like having a stocked ER whenever you need it. A durable, heavy-duty medium-sized bag packed with multiple compartments, the Recon is fully stocked with a collection of some of the best medical emergency supplies you’ll find anywhere. Read the rest

View this post on Instagram The pleasure is mine. Tomorrow, 9pm PST, Right here on InstagramLive. Thank YOU! #almightyoppA post shared by jeffrey's human persona (@almightyopp) on Apr 3, 2020 at 9:17pm PDT This comes late but if you catch it you will be glad you did.almighty Opp is livestreaming a special extra installment of their usual once monthly amazing, absurdist puppet ritual.jeffrey can help us all hold it together. Read the rest

Whether it was Bach or Chopin, Ray Charles or Jerry Lee Lewis, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Alicia Keys or Norah Jones, there was someone whose mastery on the piano made you think, wow, I wish I knew how to do that.It’s a singular, almost timeless skill — and if you love music, there’s no better place to start a formal education than in front of those 88 keys. And...hey, whattaya know, you just happen to have a little extra free time lately, right?Now’s the time to take the plunge you’ve been thinking about for years with the training found in The Learn to Play the Piano and Music Composition Bundle. Even if you think you’ve never had a musical bone in your body, this five-course collection might make you rethink that since it takes an innovative new approach to get you playing immediately.And Pianoforall is definitely not memorizing Chopsticks. Designed for adult players who want to start playing now, this system that already helped more than 160,000 students learn the ways of the keys starts with a flourish of popular rhythm style piano not unlike Billy Joel, John Lennon or Chris Martin.Over 200 lectures and 10 hours of content, students employ the Pianoforall method across all genres ranging from blues to jazz to ballads to improv, all with an eye toward ultimately creating melodies of your own.Of course, being able to play the piano is one half the experience. The remaining four courses in this package round out your education, including in-depth examinations of music theory, arrangements, employing chords, triads and other advanced composing tricks and even a Music Production 101 courses that will have you composing, arranging, recording and producing a song from scratch while you document the entire process. Read the rest

Amazon.com is in touch with CEOs of two companies that produce coronavirus tests about plans to screen workers to reduce the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks at its warehouses, Reuters reports, citing leaked internal meeting notes. Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer, and has become an essential distributor of critical medical supplies in the U.S. and elsewhere. Amazon is also rolling out face masks and temperature checks for workers at all its U.S. and European warehouses by next week. From Reuters:The chief executives of Abbott Laboratories and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc have told Amazon they would like to work with the e-commerce company, though the U.S. government is taking up all of their testing capacity at present, the notes said.The company also discussed whether it could start such tests in at least one warehouse near its Seattle headquarters, the status of which was unclear. The nature of Amazon’s conversations with the test makers and the exact assistance they might offer were unclear.The document separately indicated Amazon is looking into the ability to screen more than one person at a time for the virus, and it also wants to partner with a medical organization in its testing efforts. It did not give further details on multi-person testing or name a partner.In a statement on Saturday, Abbott Laboratories confirmed it has been contacted by Amazon and other companies to provide testing for their workforces.No comment from Thermo Fisher or Amazon.Read more:Exclusive: Amazon in contact with coronavirus test makers for potential screenings on employees[Jeffrey Dastin, Krystal Hu] Read the rest

'"Who ever heard of 180 million masks?",' Trump asked of the urgent face mask requests by FEMA and HHS.

Scientists say that traces of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material -- viral RNA -- in the poo we flush down the toilet and into the sewage system might reveal how badly coronavirus has hit a given community.Analyzing sewage could show the true scale of an outbreak, in the absence of available testing, they say.Looking for outbreak markers in wastewater could also be used to detect the coronavirus ifit comes back to communities, reports Nature. Using this method, researchers have found traces of the virus the Netherlands, the USA and Sweden, and correlated their findings with known outbreaks.Excerpt:One treatment plant can capture wastewater from more than one million people, says Gertjan Medema, a microbiologist at KWR Water Research Institute in Nieuwegein, the Netherlands. Monitoring effluent at this scale could provide better estimates for how widespread the coronavirus is than testing because wastewater surveillance can account for those who have not been tested and have only mild or no symptoms, says Medema, who has detected SARS-CoV-2 genetic material -- viral RNA -- in several treatment plants in the Netherlands: "Health authorities are only seeing the tip of the iceberg."But to quantify the scale of infection in a population from wastewater samples, researchers say the groups will need to find out how much viral RNA is excreted in faeces and extrapolate the number of infected people in a population from concentrations of viral RNA in wastewatersamples. Researchers will also need to ensure that they are looking at a representative sample of what is being excreted by the population and not just one snapshot in time, and that their tests can detect thevirus at low levels. Read the rest

With everything happening now, even the most jaded among us are bound to feel some pangs of anxiety now and again. It’s a crazy time. When we crawl into bed each night, it’s common for our brains to go into overdrive and start thinking — and worrying — about what’s going on and what’s to come.Under those conditions, anything that offers some calm and soothes our rattled psyches is worth a look. And as strange as it sounds, getting underneath a weighted anti-anxiety blanket actually has been shown to help. In one study, 63 percent of people said they felt lower anxiety after five minutes under a 30-pound blanket. Even 60 percent of those hospitalized after a mental health crisis reported calming effects after using a weighted blanket.There’s a reason Linus lugged around that blanket all those years. Right now, check out a selection of weighted and other anti-anxiety blankets that can help offer you a more relaxed sleep during these troubled times.Under $100Sometimes, even just snuggling up with something ultra-soft is enough to be calming. Both the Bibb Home Luxury Cotton Thermal Throw Blanket ($24.99; originally $79) and even the wearable CMFY Hoodie: 2-in-1 Hoodie and Blanket ($39.99; originally $69.99) can offer both protection from a chill and some restful, positive vibes.However, the soothing results of deep pressure touch (DPT), the science of firm, hands-on pressure reducing chronic stress, can’t be ignored. For about the price of a regular blanket, these three — the Kathy Ireland Weighted Blanket ($49.99; Read the rest

Happy mutants Andy Cowitt and Michael Wertz have collaborated on a song that tells the story of Golden Gate Park -- San Francisco's three-mile-long stretch of man-made natural space -- from its sandy start to "skaters on streets." It was created to coincide with the park's 150th anniversary (Saturday, April 4!) and the release of Marta Lindsey's new children's book (illustrated by Wertz), Golden Gate Park, an A to Z Adventure ($17.99).Look at how stunning the book is!-- Michael Wertz previously on BB Read the rest

On Electric Lit, Halimah Marcus, interviews speculative fiction author Ted Chiang (Exhalation, Arrival) on the current global pandemic and whether there will ever be a "normal" for us to return to.HM: What’s the relationship between disruption and doom? Would “the disruption is resolved and nothing is ever the same” qualify as a doom narrative? Or is doom a third kind of story, in which the disruption is never resolved?TC: A lot of dystopian stories posit variations on a Mad Max world where marauders roam the wasteland. That’s a kind of change no one wants to see. I think those qualify as doom. What I mean by disruption is not the end of civilization, but the end of a particular way of life. Aristocrats might have thought the world was ending when feudalism was abolished during the French Revolution, but the world didn’t end; the world changed. (The critic John Clute has said that the French Revolution was one of the things that gave rise to science fiction.)HM: Do you see aspects of science fiction (your own work or others) in the coronavirus pandemic? In how it is being handled, or how it has spread?TC: While there has been plenty of fiction written about pandemics, I think the biggest difference between those scenarios and our reality is how poorly our government has handled it. If your goal is to dramatize the threat posed by an unknown virus, there’s no advantage in depicting the officials responding as incompetent, because that minimizes the threat; it leads the reader to conclude that the virus wouldn’t be dangerous if competent people were on the job. Read the rest

Even tho they are only updated once a day (at most) I check, check and re-check 91-divoc and the IHME COVID-19 Projections. The linear scale graphs on 91-divoc have given me the best picture of 'is the curve flattening' for the regions I watch. Tribalism runs rampant during Trump's Pandemic and I am naturally more focused on the regions where my loved ones live.IHME's projections give me an idea about what to expect based on data and models they've explained and I can trust. What comes out of the Orange one's mouth is useless.Please help me add to my list... Read the rest

Whether it's your boss, your old high school friends or your over-critical family you're looking to impress, having your background looking as put together as possible during hours of Zoom calls is a must. You might not realize it in the moment, but that unmade bed in the back of your video chat shot says a lot about you — so start sending a better message.With production quality greenscreen app XSplit VCam, they’ll never see anything you don’t want them to see. XSplit VCam is tailored to create a background for any video production, conferencing or vlog that is simple to use and looks great.With XSplit, users just include the app as a camera source, fire up their webcam and start recording. For some light adjustments, a soft blur to the background can smooth out distractions and draw viewer attention to the crystal clear focal image in the video.If you just don’t have a physical space that you like as a video background, no problem -- with XSplit, you can create one. Upload the jpg, gif or png image you want to use and that image is now your backdrop, offering a look that’s almost indistinguishable from a news broadcast or other high-production video. You can also insert a web page, YouTube video or another video of your choice as your background, making sure you never give viewers a chance to get bored with your video.XSplit is compatible with all the major video chat apps and conferencing solutions, so it’s perfect for remote work, virtual interviews, meetings, or teaching. Read the rest

If you’ve never heard of WooCommerce, it’s essential the way small businesses operate in WordPress, the world’s most popular web content management system. With WooCommerce, web entrepreneurs can set up and run an e-commerce store, selling products, accepting payments and safeguarding privacy for both buyers and sellers.As the engine behind 35 percent of all websites, it should be no surprise that WooCommerce is also a dominating force in the world of online business. So the training found in The Build Your Own Business with WordPress and WooCommerce Bundle can serve as a brilliant blueprint for anyone looking to quickly get an e-commerce business started and running smoothly.This collection features 11 beginner-friendly courses aimed at helping any potential web business get off the ground.Since few startup business owners are also experts in digital operations, half of your courses -- including WordPress for Beginners, How to Make a Professional WordPress Website & Free Domain, and WooCommerce Membership/Courseware Site -- focus on the basics of understanding and using WordPress, engaging with the WooCommerce interface and getting a working, efficient web-based storefront live for online customers.There are also loads of e-commerce templates available here with themes and plugins to help new users get a WooCommerce-enabled website together in about 90 minutes. There’s even a course to help you start a business building WooCommerce sites for other entrepreneurs.From there, courses delve into all types of specialized facets for helping your business succeed. You’ll learn how blogging and online content creation is crucial to growing a new business, particularly those working on a shoestring marketing budget. Read the rest

I love the work that the Italian DIY ambient punk and dungeon drone label, Heimat Der Katastrophe, is doing. They release cassette tapes and digital albums via Bandcamp that are sonic-based old-school D&D adventures. Every cassette comes with a folded tray card with maps, dungeon and character descriptions, and background on the adventure depicted in the music and on the card. You can just listen and enjoy the music, or follow along with the action outlined in the adventure, or play an actual D&D adventure using the music and material provided. HDK's latest offering is artist Kobold's "The village in the frozen mountains." The music is described as "short dungeon-pop compositions in a 16-bit style with magic melodies that will transport you straight to when you were young and carefree."The limited edition cassettes sell out immediately. Today's release is already gone. But you can listen to the music free on Bandcamp or buy the digital album which comes with all of the adventure materials.Image: Promo photo Read the rest

NEW: After weeks of internal White House debate, finally the U.S. Centers for Disease control will 'recommend,' but not require, that people wear face coverings or improvised cloth masks if they go out in public. The CDC will soon advise the American people to wear masks in public to stem the spread of coronavirus. This is a complete reversal of policy change, well into an still-uncontrolled disease outbreak. Lives will be lost because of this policy bungling.President Donald Trump said on Friday that the Centers for Disease Control will soon officially begin recommending the public use of non-medical, non-surgical grade masks to slow the spread of COVID-19. "You don't have to do it. ... I don't think I am going to be doing it,” Trump said about wearing a face mask, during his announcement that the CDC now recommends people wear face masks. “We’re healing,” the president added, without evidence.President Trump says the CDC is officially recommending Americans wear simple cloth masks in public, though this is only voluntary — and he says he won't be doing it https://t.co/b9FtmY5sM4 pic.twitter.com/ZX5W6IWcxA— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 3, 2020CDC recommends people should wear simple cloth masks in public to reduce spread of coronavirus.Our story: https://t.co/yemiedkVrN— James Hohmann (@jameshohmann) April 3, 2020CDC recommends that people wear masks in public, and Trump immediately undermines them by stressing that the call is "voluntary" and saying "I don't think I am going to be doing it." https://t.co/b4V0iRYicD— David Lauter (@DavidLauter) April 3, 2020VIRUS UPDATE: CDC to recommend Americans cover faces when outside, but President Trump says he won't wear one. Read the rest

Today I made a Zoom background of myself accidentally walking in on myself in a Zoom meeting. pic.twitter.com/Rl2AsjfZ7V— Dan Crowd (@itsdancrowd) April 3, 2020Prankster creativity from video producer Dan Crowd (above) and motion graphics designer Metehan Korkmazel. I had the same like multiple instances of me hanging around. pic.twitter.com/05G4KDXNGY— Metehan Korkmazel (@korkmazelm) April 3, 2020 Read the rest

What a fantastic project.“I made a 'banned-book' bookshelf with a hidden compartment,” says IMGURian @honestworkdesigns.“Sliding dado door serves as hidden compartment at the back of bottom shelf.”Brilliant. I made a "banned-book" bookshelf with a hidden compartment Read the rest

Wow. That's all I can manage to get out of my keyboard, I'm so astonished by how gorgeous and dedicated this wonderful crafted popsicle stick house is. IMGURian @dawilah is taking this to a completely different level. I love it. The build video is glorious. I feel a real fondness for the medium, as a GenXer who was taught to do craft projects in the 1970s. Oh yeah we used popsicle sticks.Popsicle stick house Read the rest

The wonderful weird alt.folk noise pop band Thao & The Get Down Stay Down released a new music video today shot entirely using Zoom videoconferencing. It's a radically creative clip for an equally rad tune, "Phenom." Thao & The Get Down Stay Down's new album Temple is out next month. Read the rest

Is the coronavirus behind the fevered imaginations supplying the plots for this week’s tawdry tabloids?

Can't sit still during the pandemic? You're not alone. Many folks are using their social distancing time to decompress and zone out on Tiger King, some even pushing back against the idea of being productive. But plenty of others find themselves bored, restless, and in need of projects and goals, somewhere to direct their energy. If productivity is what you crave, there is surely no time like the present to make the most of that urge: You've got hours to fill and over 1000 premium online classes (and counting) are available now for only $59.Join over 550k satisfied students on the StackSkills platform where you'll get access to courses that will help you master today's most in-demand skills. Subject matter runs from beginner to advanced and covers IT, coding, graphic design, blockchain, growth hacking, iOS development, finance, business, marketing, and much more, with new classes added every month.Use StackSkills to teach yourself something that will make you first in line for a promotion or send your resume to the top of the pile when applying for jobs. Thanks to up-to-date information in courses most relevant to today's markets and excellent teachers leading the way (350+ of the web's top instructors, all experts in their fields), you can even leverage your StackSkills access into a side hustle in an area you currently know very little about.As you move through the platform and individual lessons, you'll find easy-to-use progress tracking, course certifications, quarterly instructor Q&A webinars, real-life applications and examples of theoretical skills, sample projects, and more. Read the rest

Photographer Lucas Zimmerman captured these dreamy long-exposure shots on foggy streets near Weimar, Germany. He followed up on the original 2013 series a few years later with Traffic Lights 2.0."...Photography shows us things we otherwise overlook, such as a simple traffic light on the street," Zimmerman says. "An all-known object, which produces a strong effect in an unnatural situation with a simple photographic setup."(via Kottke) Read the rest

Here's another musical round-up to keep you occupied while holed up in your pandemic command bunker. The Pitchfork title of this piece is "The 33 Best Industrial Albums of All Time," but homey don't play that horse race. Your mileage may vary. My mileage varies. What would you add to this list?27Chris and CoseyHeartbeat1981“Industrial music for us was about being industrious,” Cosey Fanni Tutti reflected of her time in the pioneering group Throbbing Gristle. “It wasn’t about industrial sounds.” Her point was proven when she and bandmate/partner Chris Carter formed a new duo after TG’s dissolution, veering away from the group’s harsh textures into lighter, more melodic territory. The music that comprises Heartbeat, their debut album, spans multiple genres—minimalist techno, spacey synth-pop, stretches of eerie ambience—while maintaining a rough, corroded edge. From the grinding pulse of opener “Put Yourself in Los Angeles” to the dazzling sci-fi title track, its vision and melding of textures influenced scores of electronic artists; it also provided a path for fellow industrial musicians to maintain their intensity while learning to lighten up and evolve. –Sam Sodomsky20SwansGreed/Holy Money1986Desecration, self-loathing, flesh, power: This is the scripture of Swans, the infamously loud and transgressive New York noise band led for decades by Michael Gira. By Greed/Holy Money, they had blown up their sound—two bassists, three drummers, the vocalist Jarboe—to become a chamber group of hulking, post-industrial aggression, marching against the bull market of New York’s cocaine decadence in the mid-’80s. Read the rest

If you care about The Simpsons with the same intensity that I don't care about the Simpsons, you'll be happy to hear that that Disney has finally sorted out how to stream the long-running cartoon sitcom in its proper 4:3 ratio. Disney+ will start kicking it old school, by the end of May.In a message posted to Disney+'s Twitter account yesterday, the company's reps stated:"We appreciate our fans’ patience and are working to make the first 19 Seasons (and part of 20) of The Simpsons available in 4:3 versions on DisneyPlus. We expect to accomplish this by the end of May."So that's nice.If you keep track of such things, you'll recall that, a few months ago, Simpsons fans lost their shit over Disney+'s streaming earlier seasons of the show, which were originally broadcast in a 4:3 aspect ratio, in 16:9. While this might fill up a modern wide screen television's display quite nicely, the forced 16:9 aspect ratio cut out a lot of what was going on, on screen. This left many elements of some of the series' best sight gags, unseen.I know that many films suffered from the pan-and-scan nonsense they were put through before televisions moved to a wider aspect ratio. While I'm not personally invested in The Simpsons being shown as each episode was intended to be seen, I have to wonder how many other television shows from the 1990's on back are currently being ruined by being shown in 16:9.Image via Wikipedia Read the rest

If humans ever hope to colonize Mars, the settlers will need to manufacture on-planet a huge range of organic compounds, from fuels to drugs, that are too expensive to ship from Earth.University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) chemists have a plan for that.For the past eight years, the researchers have been working on a hybrid system combining bacteria and nanowires that can capture the energy of sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into building blocks for organic molecules. Nanowires are thin silicon wires about one-hundredth the width of a human hair, used as electronic components, and also as sensors and solar cells.“On Mars, about 96% of the atmosphere is CO2. Basically, all you need is these silicon semiconductor nanowires to take in the solar energy and pass it on to these bugs to do the chemistry for you,” said project leader Peidong Yang, professor of chemistry and the S. K. and Angela Chan Distinguished Chair in Energy at UC Berkeley....Read the rest of the piece on Berkeley News.[H/t Alberto Gaitán]Image: UC Berkeley image by Peidong Yang Read the rest

Wow. Breakfast burritos are WAY better when working and cooking from home.Now I am hungry.So THIS is how you make a perfect breakfast burrito. The technique is not something that ever would have occurred to me, but now it seems so obvious. This looks so much more delicious than anything I've ever grabbed from a shack or a truck while on the way to the office.IMGURian and pandemic stay-at-homer @jelzic tried one of those “YOU'VE BEEN COOKING IT WRONG” Facebook video tip recipe video thingies out and it worked great. Breakfast is better at the home officeMore: Breakfast is better at the home office [IMGUR] Read the rest

This is a very funny short story, told in a crappy overly compressed GIF and some doodle overlays. It's brilliant. Wait for it.Bird with Arms'Bird with Arms' Read the rest