Boing Boing

Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH President Trump shoots a man on Fifth Ave. and the media urgently reports both the Democratic and Republican perspectives

Humans have been fermenting grain-flavored liquids into some simulacrum of beer for more than 10,000 years. And so it stands to reason that, over the next 10,000 years, we'll continue finding ways to combine water and yeast with some kind of sweetener and a floral bittering agent, whether out of some adherence to tradition, or just to take the edge off of after a long day of galactic work.Over at Tor.com, novelist Arkady Martine, author of the celebrated space-opera A Memory Called Empire, decided to take the thought of space beer and follow it all the way to its logical potential ends. How, exactly, would one be able to brew beer in the confines of a spaceship, using only the basic knowledge that we currently possess around the science of agriculture and fermentation?Ingredients necessary for beer: water, yeast, and a starch that the yeast can work upon.Ingredients you want if you’d like your beer to taste vaguely like the beer we know: malted barley, hops.Let’s start with yeast. The usual yeast is a brewer’s yeast, most often Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which happens—helpfully—to be the same species as the yeast that makes bread rise. Yeasts are little live creatures—single-celled microorganisms that love to eat sugars and transform them into carbon dioxide and alcohol. They need to be kept alive. A generation ship would have had to bring a yeast colony, perhaps in the form of a sourdough starter, and feed it regularly with starches and sugars, in order to be able to have a steady supply of small organisms to brew beer with. Read the rest

Every family is chock full of stories. Stories of history, stories of memory, stories of accomplishment and stories of love. From a grandparent’s tales of life decades ago to a couple’s first meeting to amazing life experiences and moments that you wish could be preserved for future generations.Unfortunately, we all don’t have the literary talents of a Maya Angelou or a Doris Kearns Goodwin or other great biographers to truly do those stories justice in print. That’s ok...because now, Forevernote has created a cool, affordable new way of immortalizing those key memories in quality keepsake books.Essentially, Forevernote gives you your own biographer. Sign up yourself or a loved one for the service and whether you’re looking to share a few short snippets of advice or a full detailed account of someone’s life, a trained biographer will help you shape your narrative and get you ready for a one-on-one interview.During the interview, the expert biographer will ask just the right questions, talking the subject through those key life moments to help capture all the memorable details from your stories.After the interview, the Forevernote team transcribes audio into text, which you can personally edit yourself or you can enlist Forevernote’s professional editing services. You can even add in photos as the design team crafts your custom keepsake hardcover book.You’ll get a PDF of your finished book for review, an audio recording of your interview and within a few weeks, your 30 to 40-page hardcover book will arrive. Read the rest

As you might know, Robert Anton Wilson (1932 - 2007) is one of Boing Boing's patron saints. Raw's humor, skepticism, optimism, and ability to reveal the deep weirdness underlying almost everything were deeply influential to Carla and me when we launched bOING bOING as a zine in 1987. In fact, we kind of started the zine as an excuse to interview RAW at his house in Santa Monica that year. I'm very grateful I was able to get to know RAW, and honored that he wrote a regular column for bOING bOING. I'm also grateful to have become a friend of Bob's daughter, Christina, a delightful person who is active in keeping her father's books in print. Here's an essay Christina wrote about a new edition of Ishtar Rising, a book originally published by Playboy Press called The Book of the Breast. — MarkA while back, we knew that Hilaritas Press would soon be working on releasing a new edition of Robert Anton Wilson's Ishtar Rising, prepping it for publication by removing tons of typos (thanks to Gregory Arnott, Chas Faris, Rasa, and a few select others), and inserting a timely new foreword by Grant Morrison. We were excited to be manifesting what we had intended; to publish and make available as many of RAW's books as we could. I had originally read the book in its The Book of the Breast form in my early twenties, having just returned from India (yep, went to gain enlightenment, but instead gained disillusionment — which has served me well!) Read the rest

Nan Wise, Ph.D., is AASECT certified sex therapist, neuroscientist, certified relationship expert, and author. Follow her @AskDoctorNan. The following is adapted from her new book, Why Good Sex Matters: Understanding the Neuroscience of Pleasure for a Smarter, Happier, and More Purpose-Filled Life. -- MarkOur society has had a long, challenging relationship with pleasure. A recent study indicates that American adults are having sex less often than before, with an especially steep decline since the year 2000. This decline is significant even when you control for factors such as age, gender, and marital status. And to top it off, in spite of the media’s portrayal of young people as freewheeling, casual sex-seeking, hookup artists, those born in the 1980s and 1990s are now the adults who are having less sex.There is a clear paradox when it comes to our sexuality — a vexing approach/avoidance that I have come to characterize as a “lewd-prude” phenomenon. As much as we are reinforcing the need for mindful “sexual conduct,” scores of people are coming forth to report sexual harassment and sexual abuse that has long been in the shadows. Sex has become for many a place of pain rather than pleasure. Unfortunately, as movements like #MeToo have uncovered, there is quite a long-standing disconnect between the code of behavior we preach and its effectiveness in our society, creating a kind of shadow culture where people act out negatively and harmfully around sex. And even those who have not had a traumatic sexual experience are impacted by this social component that reinforces a disconnect from pleasure. Read the rest

I love this strange and wonderful project on Hackaday.io. It is digital clock which uses a ring of 60 NeoPixels in a 3D printed flying saucer and 12 lights on the inner ring to indicate the hours. It also does backups. And light shows. All it needs is a cow being sucked up into it.At the end of November 2019 my trusty old iomega StorCenter NAS (Network Attached Storage) started behaving eratically and would keep disappearing from the network and locking up every few hours. I immediately made sure I had several copies of the data and started the search for a replacement. But it dawned on me that whatever I would buy would ultimately go the same way: unsupported and unfixable.So, with the new Raspberry Pi 4 having USB3 ports and a long running desire to make a circular neopixel clock at some point, it dawned on me that there are two devices that run 24 hours a day: my NAS and my trusty old Tix clock that I bought several years ago.Why settle for another boring NAS when I can make the ultimate NAS come Clock combination? So began the flying saucer clock project...So, how does it tell time?The inner ring of the saucer contains 12 LEDs behind diffusers made from a ring of transparent PLA with black PLA colour separators, which are lit according to the current hours. The minutes and seconds are shown on the outer 60 LED ring. This also displays the hour as a series of 5 LEDs lit blue and also hour markers shown at spacing of every 5. Read the rest

Notpla is an edible material made from seaweed and plants that can encapsulate drinking water other edible materials, eliminating the need for plastic packaging.From Fast Company:The designers used a technique from molecular gastronomy to create the package—if you dip a sphere of ice in a mixture of calcium chloride and brown algae extract, an edible membrane forms around the ice, holding everything in place as the ice melts back to room temperature. A small version of the package is designed to break open inside your mouth. “It’s a bit like a cherry tomato,” says Paslier. “You put it in your cheek and bite on it. It explodes, so it’s quite a surprising experience.” The startup partnered with the Scottish whisky brand Glenlivet last year to make a “glassless cocktail” capsule that customers can imbibe along with whisky. The seaweed coating, which is tasteless, can either be eaten or composted.Image: Ooho Read the rest

The online gaming portal, OnTableTop (formerly Beasts of War) is trying to establish February as "Snag-a-Normie" month. The idea is for tabletop gamers to try and bring their friends and family over to the dark side, to expand the hobby gaming community, and to find more players for yourself. As a life-long tabletop gaming enthusiast, I am all for this.As my Snag-a-Normie contribution for the month, I thought I'd share a few ideas for what I think are great gateway games for getting newbies interested in tabletop miniature games, card games, and fantasy and sci-fi board games. These choices represent my particular interests, so this is far from a universal list. YMMV.Wildlands - This 2-4 person board game with gorgeous ink-washed minis is easy to pick up and really gives players the feel of a dungeon delver without too much heavy lifting learning a lot of rules up front. Most of the action is card-driven. Here's my earlier review.Keyforge - This card game is cheap to get into. Each player (2) needs a deck of cards and the rules are free online. Every deck is unique, so you're forced to learn to leverage the strengths of the deck you have (and to overcome its weaknesses). The rules can be a little fussy to understand at first, but once you get beyond that, it's pretty straight forward. My review.Escape from the Dark Castle - My girlfriend is not a gamer, but we've played this dungeon-delving card game together and she loves it. Read the rest

What better way to use up the "brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness" you won in the cosmic lottery than by frittering it away on assembling a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle of Baby Yoda, better known to Star Track purists as "The Child?" Read the rest

Minimalism isn't just trendy, it's also wise. Clearing clutter and keeping things simple in your home is great for both your mind and for the earth. Bring that movement to your bedside when you replace just about everything on and around your nightstand with the Tree of Light: Wireless Charger + Bluetooth Speaker + LED Lamp.This 3-in-1 essential home accessory that doubles as a work of art will help you bypass switches, tangled cords, power strips, and the random mishmash of items you need to keep nearby at night. The LED lamp features a sleek cherry wood shade, striking tree sculpture, sleep timer, and adjustable brightness via touch control right on the base.Also on the base? A Qi-enabled wireless charging pad to keep your phone powered up and ready to go in the morning. Plus that's where you'll find the touch controls for track selection and audio volume of the built-in Bluetooth neodymium speaker. Pair your device and listen to your favorite playlist, podcast, or meditation to help you fall asleep or get ready for the day ahead.Bring an eclectic mix of form and function to your bedroom for 13% off MSRP when you buy the Tree of Light Wireless Charger + Bluetooth Speaker + LED Lamp for $129.99. Read the rest

President Trump today announced that he is commuting the prison sentence of Rod Blagojevich, a former Illinois governer jailed for corruption, and pardoning Bernard Kerik, the former New York Police Commissioner jailed for tax fraud.Blagojevich attempted to sell Barack Obama's senate seat; Kerik was found to have accepted a $250,000 bribe from a billionaire while a member of the interim administration of Iraq following the second Gulf war.By commuting the sentence, the president would free Mr. Blagojevich from prison without wiping out the conviction. Republicans have advised the president against it, arguing that Mr. Blagojevich’s crime epitomizes the corruption that Mr. Trump had said he wanted to tackle as president.The president’s decision came the same day that he pardoned Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., a former owner of the San Francisco 49ers who pleaded guilty in 1998 to concealing an extortion attempt and eventually surrendered control of his team.Also pardoned was Michael R. Milken, an investment banker convicted of securities fraud. Read the rest

When Maria Marten disappeared from the English village of Polstead in 1827, her lover said that they had married and were living on the Isle of Wight. But Maria's stepmother began having disturbing dreams that hinted at a much grimmer fate. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of the Red Barn, which transfixed Britain in the early 19th century.We'll also encounter an unfortunate copycat and puzzle over some curious births.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon! Read the rest

In Gainseville, Florida, a routine crawlspace inspection turned up jars of preserved human tongues that date back to the 1960s. Police are currently investigating whether the tongues were related to research conducted by the home's previous owner, Ronald A. Baughman, a University of Florida professor emeritus whose work focused on oral medicine and surgery. (WCJB)More in this Reddit post by RandoSurfer77: "I found human remains today in a crawlspace under a home."(image: imgur) Read the rest

The New York Times remembers Barbara Remington, who created the cover illustrations for Ballantine Books' 1965 paperback editions of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit. Remington's covers will always be the canonical covers for me, because these editions were in my junior high school library when I first encountered Tolkien.From the article:Ms. Remington, who designed other book covers for Ballantine as well, was asked to illustrate the 1965 editions of “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” on a tight deadline.“Ballantine was in a hurry to get these books out right away,” she said in an interview for the literary journal Andwerve. “When they commissioned me to do the artwork, I didn’t have the chance to see either book, though I tried to get a copy through my friends.“So I didn’t know what they were about,” she continued. “I tried finding people that had read them, but the books were not readily available in the states, and so I had sketchy information at best.” Read the rest

In case you don't know, HackSpace is a terrific monthly maker magazine from the U.K. Published by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, HackSpace includes articles by bunnie huang, Andrew Lewis, Marc de Vinck, Sophy Wong, Bob Knetzger, and many other authors you many recognize from the pages of Make: magazine and other domains of the maker movement. I contribute a monthly tips and tutorials column.One of the great benefits to HackSpace is that it has always been a free PDF for those who can't afford the high (over $100/year) international subscription rate. Well, good news, everyone! You can now get HackSpace for $60 a year (12 issues) and your sub comes with an Adafruit Circuit Playground Express (worth $25). Read the rest

Remember Ben Hart who sued the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (and won) after he was denied a vanity license plate that said "IM GOD?" Hart had the plate for more than a decade while living in Ohio (image above) and wanted to keep the message when he moved to Kenton County a few years ago. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet denied his application citing rules against personalized plates that are “vulgar or obscene.” Last year, American Civil Liberties Union and Freedom From Religion Foundation argued that the state had violated the First Amendment and won Hart the right to get the plate. Last week, a United States District Judge ordered the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to pay Hart $151,206 in attorneys’ fees and litigation costs. From Fox19:Hart, who identifies as an atheist, says his personalized plate is his way of spreading a political and philosophical message that faith is susceptible to individualized interpretation.“I can prove I’m God. You can’t prove I’m not. Now, how can I prove I’m God? Well, there are six definitions for God in the American Heritage Dictionary, and number five is a very handsome man, and my wife says I’m a very handsome man, and nobody argues with my wife,” Hart told FOX19 NOW.Image: aclu-ky.org Read the rest

Watch this fellow make a grand entrance – and then look surprised at his own strength. In the end, he does the gentlemanly thing and keeps on a walkin'.Via Digg Read the rest

That's not actually Paul Stanley; it's Bobby Jensen playing the part of the Starchild in the Minneapolis-based classic rock tribute band Hairball in concert. But either way, it's still pretty badass (at least until you remember the tragic Great White fire of 2003, and start to wonder why the hell there weren't more contingencies in place to prevent this kind of accident).After the incident, Jensen, who also performs in an Alice Cooper tribute act, spoke to Ultimate Classic Rock and said, "I live an Evil Knievel kind of life, so if I'm on fire a little bit, I don't care, that's just part of the fun. I knew I was on fire right away, and that wasn't a wig, that's my hair. It was really nice and foofy before the show, now I have a much better Alice Cooper cut."(This insanely metal moment actually happened over Valentine's Day weekend in 2019, but the band returned to Sioux City again this year, making the video spread like fire all over again.) Read the rest

In Hong Kong, knife-wielding robbers stole 600 rolls of toilet paper from a delivery worker outside Wellcome Supermarket. Police reportedly nabbed two suspects and recovered some of the toilet paper, a hot commodity as people stock up in fear of the coronavirus. From the BBC News:Other household products have also seen panic-buying including rice, pasta and cleaning items.Face masks and hand sanitisers are almost impossible to get as people try to protect themselves from the coronavirus, which has already claimed more than 1,700 lives...Authorities blame false online rumours for the panic buying and say supplies of food and household goods remain stable. Read the rest

Professional musician Dagmar Turner had brain surgery at King's College Hospital, London to remove a benign tumor.

“What does this guy worth $60 billion own, who wants to be president?”Memelord and presidential hopeful Michael “throw them up against the wall” Bloomberg will not be required to publicly disclose his finances until late March, “well after voters in more than a dozen states take to the polls on Super Tuesday,” reports AP on Tuesday. Under an extension granted to Bloomberg on Friday by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) — the second such extension Bloomberg has received — the billionaire gets to postpone release of his financial disclosures until March 20.Excerpt from AP:The timing is significant because Bloomberg has skipped campaigning in early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire and is instead staking his bid on a big showing in contests that come later, like Super Tuesday on March 3. By getting approval to delay the release of his finances until after those pivotal contests, he is denying voters information about how much he is worth — and how he invests his money.“Mr. Bloomberg ... has made diligent efforts to prepare his report. Nevertheless, due to the complexity of his holdings and the need to obtain certain information from third parties, Mr. Bloomberg needs additional time to gather and review his financial information and complete and file his report,” his attorney Lawrence H. Norton wrote in a letter to the FEC.Bloomberg spokeswoman Galia Slayen declined to comment. Bloomberg has pledged to release his tax returns — a decadeslong tradition for presidential candidates until Republican Donald Trump declined to do so during the 2016 campaign — but hasn’t said when. Read the rest

The biggest companies in the world rely on Python to power their technology and services, and more brands of all sizes are jumping on board. As the second best-paid programming language in the country, Python offers developers the chance to make an average of $120K a year. Take your career, and your salary, to the next level with this 12-course Complete 2020 Python Programming Certification Bundle.If making bank like that sounds awesome, but you're not exactly a master coder, don't fret. With courses designed for students new to the language, you'll be just fine. Python is actually a great option for beginners because it's got simplicity and flexibility built into its makeup—it's easy to get started and jump right into building something, for that much-needed confidence bounce.Throughout the 1,061 lessons, you'll understand how Python works and what it's good for while getting developing real-life applications. For example, you'll learn how to use Python for data science or data analytics, including NumPy, Pandas, and Matplotlib; clustering analysis and algorithms; implementing basic image processing and computer vision tasks using Jupyter Notebooks; how to solve 100 different Python assignments; and more.This bundle includes a full 3-hour Keras (Google's powerful Deep Learning framework) Neural Network & Deep Learning Boot Camp. By gaining proficiency in Keras (and PyTorch and Tensorflow, which are also taught here) you can give your company a competitive edge (hello, positive performance review!). Ready for something more challenging? Learn to build advanced data visualization web apps using the Python Bokeh library, too. Read the rest

On his batshit Twitter account, impeached and manifestly bonkers U.S. President Donald Trump is calling for all cases that came out of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election to be "thrown out." Trump implied that he could bring a lawsuit over the matter.Here are his tweets. Read the rest

Julian Assange, the jailed founder of Wikileaks, is no longer being held in solitary confinement and his health is improving, said his spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson to reporters on Tuesday. “I saw him about 10 days ago - he has improved thanks to the pressure from his legal team, the general public, and amazingly, actually from other inmates in Belmarsh Prison to get him out of isolation,” Hrafnsson told the press.Assange's extradition hearing begins next week.From Reuters:Assange, 48, is in Belmarsh high-security prison in London, fighting an extradition request from the United States where he faces 18 counts including conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law. He could spend decades in prison if convicted.His supporters had expressed concern about the state of his health after he appeared confused during a court hearing in October, struggling to recall his age and name and saying he was unable to think properly.Assange was moved from solitary confinement in the medical wing to a different part of the prison with 40 other inmates after his legal team and prisoners complained that his treatment was unfair, Hrafnsson said.Read more:Jailed Wikileaks founder Assange's health improving: spokesman[Andrew MacAskill, Sarah Young, February 18, 2020] Read the rest

In Wyoming, an attempt to break the world record for the most sparklers lit at one time failed on a technicality. Bummer.Officials from Guinness World Records ruled that each participant was required to light his or her own sparkler during the attempt in Gillette, The Gillette News Record reports, and that technicality spoiled the try.The attempt in August was part of the Pyrotechnics Guild International’s 50th annual convention, AP reports:More than 1,700 people attended and 2,500 sparklers were lit. The current record is 1,713.Basic guidelines are listed on the Guinness website, but the specific guidelines were not received prior to the attempt.Christen Burdette of the the Campbell County Convention and Visitors Bureau center said Guinness officials were impressed and complimented the event organized by the bureau and the Gillette Main Street organization, but unfortunately the effort was not viable.“It’s a bummer, but that just means we have to do it again,” Burdette said. Read the rest

These Lyrics Do Not Exist differs from similar projects involving human faces, cats, etc., in that the AI-created results are no more uncanny than the real thing. You give it a topic, and select a mood – very sad, sad, neutral, happy, very happy – and a genre – country, metal, rock, pop, rap, EDM – and tell it to get cracking.Here is the chart-busting hit, "Boing Boing", exactly as generated by the AI:Verse 1You came along you showed meMy many seasons of differentBoing, autumn, winter, boingYou touch my boingPre-ChorusAnd oh, the rain it falls on meSoft boing rain on my skinChorusSo beautiful with you, ohAll of boingI look at you, wonderIt was the boing of a boingVerse 2Take a walk on my heartFar away from all thisTake a walk on my mindFall in the boing of my lifePre-ChorusSo I am autumn, winter and boingAnd every month brings a new loveChorusSo beautiful with you, ohAll of boingI look at you, wonderIt was the boing of a boingBridgeGotta have a boing in my step, a dawn in my eyeGotta have genuine devotionChorusSo beautiful with you, ohAll of boingI look at you, wonderIt was the boing of a boing Read the rest

Justine Haupt made this handsome and completely functional rotary cellphone. Her design is open-source and you can even buy a case kit from her company, Sky's Edge Robotics. You have to find and carefully modify your own rotary dial, though -- they're apparently no longer made -- as well as a few other components.Why a rotary cellphone? Because in a finicky, annoying, touchscreen world of hyperconnected people using phones they have no control over or understanding of, I wanted something that would be entirely mine, personal, and absolutely tactile, while also giving me an excuse for not texting. The point isn't to be anachronistic. It's to show that it's possible to have a perfectly usable phone that goes as far from having a touchscreen as I can imagine, and which in some ways may actually be more functional.I feel this is what crowdfunding was made for! [via JWZ]Previously: Rotary Cellphone Read the rest

Facing "mounting legal costs" over lawsuits filed by victims of sexual abuse, the Boy Scouts of America has filed for bankruptcy protection. NBC News reports that the move pushes the lawsuits to federal bankruptcy court, and that the organization intends to establish a trust to compensate victims.Michael Pfau, whose Seattle-based law firm, Pfau, Cochran, Veretis and Amala, represents close to 300 people who say they were abused as Scouts in 30-plus states, called the filing historic."It will be far larger in terms of the numbers of victims and far more complicated than any of the bankruptcies we've seen so far involving the Catholic Church," Pfau said. Those bankruptcies involved individual dioceses or archdioceses, Pfau said, while "this involves victims from all 50 states and several U.S. territories ... You're looking at thousands of abuse survivors making claims ...This is much bigger than the bankruptcy filings involving the Catholic Church." Read the rest

For Christmas, I gifted myself with a New Yorker subscription. At the end of January, in my inbox zine, I wrote about becoming a little obsessed with the magazine's cartoon caption contest, and how I had shared the fun with my 15-year-old daughter. I then found myself searching and following all the New Yorker-published cartoonists I could find on Instagram. That search led me to Brooklyn-based Drew Dernavich (and, boy, I sure am glad I found him!). On top of The New Yorker, he's been published in Time, the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, and other well-known publications. He's also a graphic recorder, aka a "visual note-taker." On February 6, he posted this photo. It shows the reality of his business as demonstrated by two piles of paper: his rejected cartoons and his accepted ones: View this post on Instagram Before I started submitting digital sketches to @newyorkermag a few years ago, I was doing them the old-school way: Sharpie on paper. But that takes up too much space, so I’m cleaning house. Here is the pile of ideas that got published vs. the ones that got rejected. And in multiple views so you can see the actual ratio. Cruel business, my friends. I’m still generating a lot of crappy rejected ideas, they’re just in digital form now!A post shared by drewdernavich (@drewdernavich) on Feb 6, 2020 at 11:15am PSTHe writes: Before I started submitting digital sketches to @newyorkermag a few years ago, I was doing them the old-school way: Sharpie on paper. Read the rest

You’d be surprised anyone would have to say this, but...there are plenty of items that don’t belong in a suitcase. Like a bag of dead birds. No, really...people are actually packing bags of small dead birds into their luggage these days.Look, we can’t tell you how to pack. That’s your business. But we can recommend this — if you’re carrying animal remains on international flights, we suggest you get new luggage afterward. That’s pretty self-explanatory, right?No matter what you’re lugging around, we pulled together 10 great luggage and luggage set options for those looking to add to or replace their current bags. Right now, throw in the code PRESIDENT15 during checkout and they’ll also take an extra 15 percent off your total.Solo bagsUnless you’re a Kardashian, most of us can get by with just one roomy, sturdy bag for most short travel. But if you’re moving quickly through crowded air terminals or train stations, a solid spinner bag can be a lifesaver. Genius Pack has deals right now on a pair of great spinners.The Genius Pack Aerial Hardside Carry On Spinner (135.15 after discount, originally $298) is sized exactly to fit most airlines’ carry on size, sports 360-degree durable wheels, and, at just over 6 pounds, is incredibly light for such a sturdy bag.Meanwhile, if a carry-on isn’t enough, the Genius Pack 30" Spinner Upright Suitcase ($169.99 after discount, originally $398) will let you maximize your space with the same high-quality spinner wheels, Laundry Compression Technology to keep dirty clothes compact and separate and even an extra 2 inches of expandable room for cramming that last bulky coat in at the last second. Read the rest

Presidents’ Day and VPNs may not be a natural fit at first glance. But think about it for a minute. George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were both American presidents whose legacies are forever tied with liberty and freedom. And what is a VPN service if not absolute web liberty and freedom for all your digital travels?Therefore, this rundown of 10 great VPN offers happening right now is a perfect President’s Day tie-in. And just to sweeten the pot, add the code PRESIDENT15 at checkout and you’ll get an extra 15 percent off your total. We’re sure George and Abe would approve.Hola VPN Plus: Lifetime Subscription - $33.15 after discount; Originally $717Hola VPN is one of the most popular VPN services in the world, with over 200 million users in over 190 countries worldwide. Right now, it’s at a rock-bottom $33.15 for complete web anonymity for life.KeepSolid VPN Unlimited: Lifetime Subscription - $33.15 after discount; Originally $499.99With no speed or bandwidth limits, KeepSolid is one of the top-rated VPN services anywhere. It’s trusted globally — and at $33.15, you’ll seldom find a better collision of pedigree and massive savings.Ivacy Lifetime Subscription (10 Devices) - $50.99 after discount; Originally $2,338Connect up to 10 devices at once with full bandwidth, complete malware protection, over 1,000 servers to choose from, and military-grade encryption. And at almost 98 percent off, it’s the biggest price cut target on this list.NordVPN: 2-Yr Subscription - $81.59 after discount; Originally $286.80 Read the rest

Now here's a miniatures hobby that I didn't even know existed until reading this article on Buzzfeed. Book nooks are spaces between the books on your shelves where you build (or buy) a diorama insert, usually depicting a scene or an environment from a book. There's a Reddit thread dedicated to them. I made a booknook for a Christmas gift, my inspiration was Blade Runner. It's larger than ones we have see, it's 11" x 6". from booknooks Harry Potter themed booknook from booknooks Witch is watching you from booknooks [OC] Dare you enter the Doors of Durin and face the long Dark of Moria? from DnD [H/t Jade Garrett]Image: GIF screengrab Read the rest

In 2012 I bought this pull-up bar and hang it from the door frame in my home office. When I started, I wasn’t able to do a single pull-up. After a week I could do one pull-up. A couple of months later I was able to do over 10 pull-ups. I still can. Read the rest

KFC teamed up with Crocs to make this colorful clog that has fake chicken nuggets attached to it, which are "made to resemble and smell like fried chicken," but are sadly "not for human consumption." They'll be released in the spring.Image: Crocs Read the rest

China's central bank is now sterilizing — and even destroying — cash as a way to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, or COVID-19. According to a press release by the Chinese government, banks are deep-cleaning all the cash that comes in by using "ultraviolet disinfection or high temperatures," and "stored for more than 14 days" before being recirculated. And if the money is coming from a highly infected area, they're destroying it. From CNN:And in the central bank's Guangzhou branch, these high-risk banknotes may be destroyed instead of merely disinfected, according to state-run tabloid Global Times.To make up for the supply, the bank will issue large amounts of new, uninfected cash; in January, the bank allocated 4 billion yuan (about $573.5 million) in new banknotes to Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak began, said the government press release.But can you even catch a virus from cash? Probably not, but germs can last for hours on surfaces, so...maybe? According to CNN:The list of things found on US dollar bills includes DNA from our pets, traces of drugs, and bacteria and viruses, according to a 2017 study in New York.That doesn't mean cash is actually dangerous for our health; disease transmission linked to money is rare, and no major disease outbreaks have started from our ATMs. But with new cases being reported every day in China, the country's officials are taking no chances.Image: Japanexperterna.se / Flickr Read the rest

My daughter loves the flip sequin shirts that are all the rage for kids these days. Ekaggrat Singh Kalsi's daughter digs them too and she inspired his fantastic Sequino clock that "writes and rewrites" the time by flipping the sequins. Kalsi posted his build notes over at Hackaday.Sequino: A Clock Which Rewrites Time Again and Again Read the rest

In Pueblo, Colorado at 3:330am Friday morning, terrified McDonald's employees called police after hearing "'demonic sounds' from a screaming woman" inside the restaurant. According to Pueblo Police captain Tom Rummel, the employees also reported sounds of a "strange language and barking.""They were so unnerved by the sounds that they said they wouldn’t be going back outside their building until after the sun came up," Rummel tweeted. "Three officers searched the area, but didn’t come up with the source of the disturbance."(Pueblo Chieftain)image: transformation of photo by Towinn (CC BY-SA 3.0) Read the rest

Love Hultén, who makes retrofuturistic game consoles, built this thing called an EvoBoxx, which lets you play mathematician John Horton Conway's Game of Life, a cellular automaton he devised in 1970. "The game is a zero-player game," writes Hultén, "meaning that its evolution is determined by its initial state, requiring no further input. One interacts with the Game of Life by creating an initial configuration and observing how it evolves, or, for advanced players, by creating patterns with particular properties."If you don't have an EvoBoxx, you can play The Game of Life here.Image: Love Hultén Read the rest

No, they aren't wearing any harnesses. But some of them are sporting rather dashing chapeaus. From Speed Graphic Film and Video:New York's Chrysler Building, one of the city's most iconic skyscrapers, was built in a remarkably short time--foundation work began in November 1928, and the building officially opened in May 1930. Even more remarkably, the steelwork went up in just six months in the summer of 1929 at an average rate of four floors a week.Fox Movietone's sound cameras visited the construction site several times in 1929 and 1930, staging a number of shots to maximize viewers' sense of the spectacular heights. Movietone almost never put somebody in front of a camera without giving them something to say, so a number of scenes include some staged dialogue. Read the rest

"Sonic the Hedgehog gets bluer!" announces the press release for a porn parody of the hit movie based on the classic Sega character.The parody film is titled "Sonic the Vadgehog" and appears to have been conceived, filmed and marketed in total ignorance of all existing Sonic fandom on the internet, furiously horny and curiously religious as it is. WoodRocket mixes porn, comedy, pop culture, and redefines adult entertainment. Creating popular & high-quality content like Ask A Porn Star, Porn Stars Reading Hate Mail, and porn parodies like Ten Inch Mutant Ninja Turtles, Strokémon, and Laygo, WoodRocket is the future of porn. WoodRocket’s content has been featured in Buzzfeed, Uproxx, Gizmodo, Maxim, Complex, AV Club, Spin, Rolling Stone, The Howard Stern Show, GQ, Vice, Esquire, The Hollywood Reporter, @Midnight, Bon Appetit, and many, many, many more wonderful places.Here's the trailer, which is quite safe for work. Read the rest

Marijuana businesses pay for 66% of state’s sponsored highway miles under Clean Colorado program

Face ID Masks plans to offer a service that prints your face onto respirator masks, so you can unlock your phones without exposing yourself to the plague. But there's a shortage of face masks, says creator Danielle Baskin, so for now it's just a dystopian joke.After uploading your face, we use computational mapping to convert your facial features into an image printed onto the surface of N95 surgical masks without distortion.Our printer uses inks made of natural dyes. It's non-toxic and doesn't affect breathability.You can use your mask for everyday life as a barrier for airborne particle droplets. Why?If you're sick, wearing a mask makes it hard to use your biometric data to access your phone.Made this service that prints your face on an N95 mask, so you can protect people from viral epidemics while still being able to unlock your phone.😷+👃🏻👃🏽👃🏿👄=🔓https://t.co/SXslSjoiMz pic.twitter.com/rByMBwdPB8— Danielle Baskin (@djbaskin) February 15, 2020 Read the rest

Police on the Big Island of Hawaii are looking for fruit bandits who made off with about $1,000 in exotic fruit, including 18 or so durian -- the spiky fruit with a mega stinky smell and a taste some people crave.The smell of durian fruit's pale yellow flesh has been compared to fungal feet, rotting corpses, and dead fish. Two men entered a property in Hilo on the Big Island and removed 18 durian and other types of fruit on the night of Feb. 1, the Hawaii Police Department said.Authorities released a surveillance camera image of two suspects and asked the public for additional information that could lead to the capture of the fruit bandits.The tropical, spiky durian fruit resembles a small porcupine and typically weighs from 2 to 7 pounds (1 to 3 kilograms).IMAGE: Hawaii Police Department released a surveillance image of two suspects involved in a fruit theft in Hilo. More at AP:Hawaii police say thieves took $1K worth of pungent fruit Read the rest

Samsung claims to have developed an "Ultra Thin Glass" for its new Galaxy Z Flip foldable smartphone, signalling scratch resistance and durability beyond that of similar products. But tests conducted by Zack Nelson using a Mohs Hardness Testkit [Amazon] -- a set of styluses made of different materials -- show that it is no more resistant to scuffs than plastic. In fact, he didn't even need the kit: his fingernail was sharp enough to leave marks. The "glass" scores 2-3 on the Mohs scale, compared to 6-7 for Gorilla Glass: "I don't know what material this is, but Samsung should definitely not be calling it glass."Samsung has pitched this phone as a folding glass phone that ‘bends the laws of physics’ But… is folding glass actually possible? The only way to find out is with a scratch test. Overall I’m impressed with the Galaxy Z Flip. If they change the name of their screen material to something besides glass I would give it a 10/10 as far as folding phones go. The only physical characteristic this screen material shares with actual glass is the clarity. And I dont think thats fair to consumers. At all. The Verge's Chris Welch got Samsung on the record to say there'll be a glass replacement service. We asked Samsung if it planned to offer a screen replacement service for the Z Flip as it did with the Galaxy Fold. It will. Z Flip buyers can get a one-time screen replacement for $119, Samsung says. Read the rest

Can't tell if it's because he's an illiterate dunce, or a narcissist. The singular form: “President’s Day.” Perhaps he thinks it's all about him? Today in the United States, we celebrate Presidents’ Day, a federal holiday to mark the birthday of America's first president, George Washington.The President of the United States, however, is celebrating a different holiday. In 2020, this day is all about Trump himself, just like every other day in this kleptocratic hellscape.Here's the link to the original @realdonaldtrump tweet. Read the rest

Congratulations, shoppers! You can order plastic crates in beautiful pastel colors at significantly inflated prices. Available in large, medium or small. [Goodhoodstore via dieworkwear] These look very similar indeed to similarly pricey pastel crates on Amazon, being sold under randomly-generated brand names like SHINEME and MUYOZZ. At the New York Times, John Hermann recently wrote about this bizarre new branding trend: All Your Favorite Brands, From BSTOEM to ZGGCD. Read the rest

You hear the stories all the time. You know the ones about how a new vehicle instantly loses hundreds, even thousands of dollars in value the second a new owner drives it off the lot. Depreciation is a killer, especially when the item itself works just as well — or maybe even better than all their younger siblings still nestled snugly in their unopened boxes.That’s why the word to combat depreciation is refurbished. Right now, Microsoft is not only selling off loads of high-end refurbished Surface Book and Surface Pro models as part of their Presidents’ Day Sale, but they’re also doing it at hundreds, even thousands off their original price.Take that, evil depreciators!Surface Books everywhere!Surface Books do it all, shifting effortlessly from their reliable laptop configuration right into tablet mode when you detach it from the dock. Of course, either way, it’s still got the goods under the hood to compete with any of the most powerful laptops out there.For the power user, the Microsoft Surface 2 ($1,509, originally $2,499.99) definitely has your back. Called the “sleek, strong, and silent” sequel to the original Surface, this thing has the specs heavy tech-heads need like a crazy-fast Intel Core i7 processor clocking 2.9GHz and 16MB of RAM to keep multiple apps running smoothly simultaneously.Rocking that same Intel processor, Microsoft is also cutting big deals on a Surface Book with 8MB of RAM and a 256GB hard drive ($1,109, originally $2499.99) as well as another Surface Book with an earlier generation i7 ($879, originally $2,799.99) Read the rest

This video shows the preparation of kkwabaegi (twisted donuts) at a small bakery in Korea. There are things both similar and different to the experiences of bakers here in the west (let alone large-scale production). It's one of those "relaxing" or "satisfying" videos too, at least for the viewer, until one imagines doing it forty hours or more a week. Did you know we used to call these things "oily cakes" until the marketers came along? Read the rest

There is very little evidence that Ring reduces crime. Hundreds of police departments have signed agreements with Amazon-owned Ring to obtain access to the home surveillance camera footage. Interviews with many of them, in 8 different states, show little to no evidence that Ring actually deters criminal activity.“We don’t have any research data showing that Ring has a correlation to a reduction,” Jodee Reyes, a spokeswoman for the Carlsbad Police Department near San Diego told NBC News. “Our residential burglary rate began decreasing before Ring gave us access to their portal. There are more than likely many factors that have led to this decrease.”From reporting by Cyrus Farivar:Since 2018, Ring has signed up more than 800 law enforcement agencies as “partners,” offering them access to video footage recorded by its millions of customers’ internet-connected cameras across the U.S. through an app called Neighbors.Ring promises to “make neighborhoods safer” by deterring and helping to solve crimes, citing its own research that says an installation of its doorbell cameras reduces burglaries by more than 50 percent. But an NBC News Investigation has found — after interviews with 40 law enforcement agencies in eight states that have partnered with Ring for at least three months — that there is little concrete evidence to support the claim.Three agencies said the ease with which the public can share Ring videos means officers spend time reviewing clips of non-criminal issues such as racoons and petty disagreements between neighbors. Others noted that the flood of footage generated by Ring cameras rarely led to positive identifications of suspects, let alone arrests. Read the rest

The crowd at this weekend's Fire Fight Australia was humbled by an intense, heart-felt performance by k.d. lang of her signature cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." Fire Fight Australia was a benefit concert held in Sydney to help raise relief money in the wake of the country's devastating brush fires. Image: YouTube Read the rest