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

You may have seen the archeological news item late last year of a macabre funeral find in Ecuador. Some baby graves from around 100 B.C. were unearthed where the babies are apparently wearing the skulls of other babies and children as hats.In this "Morbid Minute" installment of the ever-excellent Ask a Mortician, our favorite Goth funeral director and "death positivity" educator, Caitlin Doughty, looks more closely at the discovery and what this practice might have meant.Image: YouTube Read the rest

Have you ever heard of the Grasshopper mouse? It lives in the deserts of North America, lives on a meat diet, and hunts scorpions. Unlike other animals, it is immune to scorpion venom and actually turns it into a pain killer. Oh, and this little rodent bad ass also howls at the moon, giving it the nickname of werewolf mouse.Image: Video screengrab Read the rest

Spring cleaning time is right around the corner, and, if we're being honest, the whole thing is kind of a drag. But keeping your home clean in any season is necessary for both health and happiness, so why not make it a little less daunting? The correct tools help make any work easier, and that's what these Elicto products and small appliances will do. Plus, they're on sale for Presidents' Day, so there's no better time to stock your cleaning arsenal.Elicto SS-130 Super Sweeper Requiring zero electricity and only a little bit of elbow grease, this multipurpose tool cleans all types of surfaces around your home, including rugs, upholstery, floors, showers, windows, and more. So much better than a broom, this pro-grade sweeper with extension handle revolutionizes your cleaning routine with its 6 blades that capture debris large and small, liquid spills, even broken eggs.The Super Sweeper is on sale for $24, but you can get it for an extra 15% off when you use the coupon PRESIDENT15 at checkout, lowering the final price to just $20.40!Elicto ES-100 Waterproof Telescopic Power ScrubberGrime doesn't stand a chance with this electric scrubber at your disposal. It comes with 5 different rotating heads to help you clean the toughest messes inside and outside your home. On full charge, you'll get up to 2 hours from this cordless powerhouse, so you can handle the grossest of the gross from afar (as far as the telescoping handle anyway).The Waterproof Telescopic Power Scrubber is on sale for $119, but you can get it for an extra 15% off when you use the coupon PRESIDENT15 at checkout, lowering the final price to just $101.15! Read the rest

Quality knives matter -- and in more ways than you might expect.At the most basic level, having a functioning set of proper kitchen knives means you can actually get in a kitchen, start putting together a meal and have the right tools to handle all tasks. From the blunt force of the clever to the skilled precision of the paring knife, you're ready.But do you know what else a well-stocked knife block in your kitchen says to visitors? It says an adult uses this kitchen. Butter knives and pizza cutters will only get you so far in life, gents. At some point, a lack of quality knives on display in your kitchen might as well scream that your culinary skills haven't advanced beyond reheating fish sticks in your illegal dorm toaster oven.That’s a bad look. To save you from yourself, we’ve assembled 20 (yes, 20!) deals on worthy knives and knife sets. And since these deals coincide with the Presidents’ Day holiday, enter the coupon code PRESIDENT15 at checkout and take another 15% off each of these offers.All we’re saying is...invest in yourself.Chef’s KnivesIf you purchase nothing else, at least lock up the services of a quality chef’s knife. It’s the most important tool in any chef’s arsenal and can sub in to handle almost any kitchen task like a champ. Another consideration is going with Damascus steel blades over standard stainless steel. Damascus steel, which is actually an iron and steel alloy, producing brilliantly intricate, eye-catching blade patterns. Read the rest

I have a lot of issues with the American obsession around political binaries. But it's hard to deny that it's an overwhelming force that maintains a maddening influence on our country. Both-side-isms are built on the assumption that the "political center" is the exact middle between two equal but opposite poles. Given the choice between killing 100 people, or killing none, this kind of radical centrist confidently strides forward with their "logical" assertion that killing 50 people is the only possible solution that would allow us to maintain what they see as the equilibrium of the status quo.The latest example of this comes from an FBI briefing in front of the House Judiciary Committee in early February. The bureau has been working to fine-tune its language in order to better address the (very real!) threat of domestic terrorism, which has often gone overlooked in the past. As part of these linguistic changes, the FBI has broken down domestic terrorism into four broad categories, including "abortion violent extremism," which FBI Director Christopher Wray described as "people on either side of that issue who commit violence on behalf of different views on that topic."Rep. Karen Bass of California rightly pointed out to Wray that there is no evidence of violence on "both sides" of the abortion issue. But Wray insisted that the threats must be balanced on both sides. Later, when pressed by the Daily Beast, the FBI could only cite a single instance of "pro-choice extremism," which involved a man who threatened anti-abortion activists online. Read the rest

If you've ever looked into making clear ice for drinks, you know that there are all sorts of assertions about needing to boil the water first, or using filtered water, or you need a special clear ice maker.According to Nick, the Cocktail Chemist, in this video, all you need is a small 6-pack cooler with the lid removed. Thanks to directional freezing, all of the impurities (clouding, bubbles) will settle to the bottom of the open cooler as you freeze it and the top section of the resulting ice block will be clear. You then simply remove the block and cut off the bottom part to have a clear block of ice remaining. Image: YouTube Read the rest

MIT researchers outfitted a baby diaper with an RFID tag that emits a wireless signal when the surrounding material gets wet. The wetness "sensor" is actually a type of hydrogel that's commonly found in diapers to absorb liquid. As the hydrogel gets wet, it swells and its conductivity increases, triggering the RFID tag. The RFID tags are printed as stickers for around 2 cents each compared to other Internet-connected diapers in development with reusable sensors that cost as much as $40/each. From MIT News:Over time, smart diapers may help record and identify certain health problems, such as signs of constipation or incontinence. The new sensor may be especially useful for nurses working in neonatal units and caring for multiple babies at a time...(MIT AutoID Lab researcher Pankhuri Sen) envisions that an RFID reader connected to the internet could be placed in a baby’s room to detect wet diapers, at which point it could send a notification to a caregiver’s phone or computer that a change is needed. For geriatric patients who might also benefit from smart diapers, she says small RFID readers may even be attached to assistive devices, such as canes and wheelchairs to pick up a tag’s signals.image: MIT News (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) Read the rest

You kill it at the gym all week, your nutrition is dialed in, and you're drinking so much water that your spare time is spent walking back and forth to the bathroom (way to get those steps in!)—so how do you take things to the next level? By focusing on recovery. A proper post-workout routine, which includes deep-tissue massage, will help your muscles recover faster and more efficiently, leading to less DOMS and less time before you're ready for more box jumps. Since seeing a masseuse every day isn't an option, you need a massage gun, but some of them cost almost as much as those daily massages. Some — but not these. Here are 5 options that cover a range of budgets and are still way cheaper than a Theragun. Plus, right now you can use code PRESIDENT15 for an extra 15% off.Evertone™ Prosage Deep Tissue MassagerThis budget-friendly, 3-intensity-level model from Evertone is cordless and will give you up to 2 hours of professional-grade deep-tissue trigger-point massage per charge to ensure you don't lose power mid-session. It will help you reduce joint pain, increase circulation, and break up knots to regain mobility and improve recovery.The Evertone Prosage Deep Tissue Massager is on sale for $96.99, but you'll get an extra 15% off when you use the coupon PRESIDENT15 at checkout, lowering the cost to $82.44!Evertone™ Prosage Thermo: Percussion Massager with Warm-Up TechnologyThe Kickstarter-funded Thermo model of the Evertone Prosage takes things to the next level with its warming technology to ensure muscles are primed for treatment. Read the rest

It is kind of hard to imagine that it's taken until 2020 for the identity of the woman on the cover of Black Sabbath's heavy metal masterpiece, Black Sabbath, to finally be known. The woman has been identified as Louisa Livingston. The image was shot by photographer and album designer, Keith "Keef" Macmillan.The photographer opted for Oxfordshire's Mapledurham Watermill because it fit the band's sound in his opinion. Louisa told Rolling Stone: "I remember it was freezing cold. I had to get up at about 4 o'clock in the morning. Keith was rushing around with dry ice, throwing it into the water. It didn't seem to be working very well, so he ended up using a smoke machine. "It was just, 'Stand there and do that.' I'm sure he said it was for Black Sabbath, but I don't know if that meant anything much to me at the time."As a teenage headbanger, I spent countless record-spinning hours poring over every inch of this haunting cover, completely enthralled by the creepy building and the beautiful green-skinned witch in front of it. It is probably a good thing that I (and every other pubescent teen listener) was ignorant of this fact: "She wasn't wearing any clothes under that cloak because we were doing things that were slightly more risqué, but we decided none of that worked. "Any kind of sexuality took away from the more foreboding mood. But she was a terrific model. She had amazing courage and understanding of what I was trying to do." Read the rest

Everybody wears socks, even presidents, but not everybody wears sophisticated, ultra-comfortable socks made with bamboo yarn that offers softness, ventilation, and durability. So with all these DeadSoxy socks on sale for Presidents' Day, why not use this opportunity to make those hard-working feet of yours happier than they've ever been? With styles for work and play, you'll have everything you need for everyday life.DeadSoxy No-Show SocksAvailable in a variety of pack sizes (6 or 10) foot sizes (small or medium) and style packs (President 3 [no pun intended], Analyst 2, or Analyst 3), these unisex no-shows will make living the sockless life a little nicer. Made with 75% bamboo rayon, DeadSoxy pairs offer comfort that feels luxurious like cashmere but still performs. We're talking ventilation, arch support, durable elasticity—and a design that stays in place and out of sight.These sets of no-show socks are on sale starting at $81.99, but you can get an extra 15% off when you use the coupon PRESIDENT15 at checkout, lowering the final price for a 6-pack to just $69.69!DeadSoxy Jules No-Show SocksMuch like the President and Analyst packs (OK, exactly like the President and Analyst packs), these socks feature patented silicone in the welt to eliminate sock slippage, flat seams, a Y-heel, and 75% bamboo rayon for extremely comfortable wear. The men's and women's Jules (which is also available in some of the packs above) is great if you want to pick up just a pair or two.These Jules no-show socks are on sale for $13.99, Read the rest

According to a piece on Deadline, 70s prog rock behemoths, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, are having a movie made from their 30-minute sci-fi song suite, "Karn Evil 9", from 1973's Brain Salad Surgery.Centered on a society that has drained all its blood with a dependence on technology, the film will explore the world controlled by a pervasive and dictatorial technocracy. The annual “Karn Evil” — a macabre rite of passage — is a young person’s once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience unbridled freedom, before subjugating themselves to the ruling class. When people stop returning from their Karn Evil experience, fear drives a revolution to topple the status quo and the artificial intelligence discovered at its heart.The film is being produced by Radar Pictures, producers of the Jumanji films. The screenplay is being written by best-selling author Daniel H. Wilson:Wilson, the author behind bestselling sci-fi novels Robopocalypse and The Andromeda Evolution, has adapted several of his works for the screen, most recently penning the script to Robopocalypse for DreamWorks and Michael Bay.“I’m incredibly excited to partner with Ted and Radar to explore Karn Evil 9—a unique and thrilling world,” said Wilson. “I couldn’t ask for better collaborators and I can’t wait to help add the Karn Evil 9 franchise to the Radar family.”Read the rest here.Here is ELP performing "Karn Evil 9 Third Impression" at 1974's California Jam.ELP fun-fact: "Karn Evil 9" was co-written by Peter Sinfield, the poet and lyricist best-known for his writing on the first four King Crimson records, including the hugely influential In the Court of the Crimson King and In the Wake of Poseidon. Read the rest

If you're looking to read more in 2020, you probably wish you had more time to get that done. Well, we can't create more hours in the day (we're mad about it too), but we can help you maximize those hours. Catch up on that book list and get ahead of the game when you utilize these apps and speed reading techniques that are on sale for the holiday.SumizeIt Book Summaries: Lifetime MembershipFeaturing 5-minute, easy-to-digest, non-fiction book summaries, SumizeIt will help you tackle all those career-boosting books you keep meaning to read. Using clear and uncomplicated language, in text or audio, key insights from hundreds of book are revealed, helping you master small talk at networking events.SumizeIt is on sale for $19, but you can get it for an extra 15% off when you use the coupon PRESIDENT15 at checkout, lowering the final price to only $16.15!The Speed Reading Mastery BundleThrough 6 courses and 226 lessons, you'll gain the speed-reading skills you need to take your life and memory to the next level. Taught by instructors with a varying history of success, this bundle will help you learn faster and more effectively in addition to speed reading and neuroscience-based memory-boosting techniques and mnemonics used by world champions.The Speed Reading Mastery Bundle is on sale for $21, but you can get it for an extra 15% off when you use the coupon PRESIDENT15 at checkout, lowering the final price to just $17.85!Become A Speed Reading Machine: Read 300 Books This YearIf reading almost a full book every day sounds like your idea of a good time, you won't want to skip this online course that teaches the secrets and techniques used by Elon Musk and Bill Gates to do just that. Read the rest

Bertolt Meyer wears a myoelectric prosthetic arm and hand controlled by electrodes attached to his residual limb that pick up impulses generated when he consciously contracts that muscle. Those impulses are then translated into control signals for the prosthetic hand. An electronic musician, Meyer had the idea to swap out the prosthetic hand for a DIY controller for his modular synthesizers so he can play music just by thinking about it. This is the SynLimb. Meyer writes:Together with Chrisi from KOMA Elektronik and my husband Daniel, I am in the process of building a device (the "SynLimb") that attaches to my arm prosthesis instead of the prosthetic hand. The SynLimb converts the electrode signals that my prosthesis picks up from my residual limb into control voltages (CV) for controlling my modular synthesizer. The SynLimb thus allows me to plug my prosthesis directly into my snythesizer so that I can control its parameters with the signals from my body that normally control the hand. For me, this feels like controlling the synth with my thoughts. Read the rest

For the last couple years, my dear friend Mikael Jorgensen (Wilco, Quindar) and Isaac Koren (The Kin, Bråves) have been exploring their shared passion for the great American songbook and electronic music. They call their act Expandards and have been making the SoCal scene to great acclaim. These two are the real deal. Above, Expandards' new video for the tune "Nature Boy," written by Eden Ahbez in 1947 and originally made famous by Nat King Cole. This burns. It burns so good.Shot on location at The Record Parlour in Los Angeles. Written and directed by Trevor Tuttle; Starring Tari Elegele and Isaac Koren Read the rest

Grover Cleveland served as America’s 22nd President before being narrowly defeated for re-election by Benjamin Harrison in 1888. But the undeterred Cleveland roared back four years later, winning the 1892 election for his second term in the White House.If the American people can give a president a second chance, don’t you think a gently-used MacBook should get that same shot at redemption too?In honor of President’s Day, we’ve assembled current deals on 5 refurbished MacBook models, each fully tested to be in 100 percent working order — and each hundreds of dollars off their retail prices.Best value:Deciding the best value from this group sort of depends on your definition of value. The Apple MacBook Pro 13" Core i5 ($428.99) with a 500GB hard drive and a 7-hour battery life is the biggest discount (67%) of its $1,299 retail price. But if you’re just looking for the rock-bottom cheapest price, check out this Apple MacBook Air with an Intel Core i5 1.6GHz processor and 64GB of storage for just $329.99 (regularly $799).Best for the executive:Sometimes, nothing but the best will do. With that in mind, the Apple MacBook Pro 15" ($999.97, down from $1,999) sporting a 2.2GHz Intel Core i7 chip with Retina Display and 256GB is hands down the beefiest entry in this list.Best for your students:When picking up a laptop for your kids, two factors come into play: how portable is it to carry back and forth from school; and how much is it gonna cost to replace if they break it? Read the rest

Engineers versed in the care and feeding of system development on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform are in an IT job sector so vital right now that they can practically set their own salaries. And a look at the annual Global Knowledge IT Skills and Salary Report suggests that might not be far from wrong.According to the 2019 survey, the average AWS-certified IT pro is bringing home almost $130,000 annually, one of the best-paying certification jobs in all of North America.The Complete AWS Dev and Ops Certification Training Bundle is a four-course fast track into building a career as an AWS DevOps expert. In fact, this nine-hour training bootcamp covers everything students are testing on for the AWS Certified Development and Operations Engineer Professional exam, a premier industry benchmark.Each of these four courses covers a critical segment of exam prep training. Part 1 introduces students to continuous integration and delivery concepts as well as automation, while Part 2 delves into using Amazon CloudWatch for tasks like monitoring, custom metrics, and logging files.Part 3 covers AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) so you’ll always know who’s authenticated and authorized to use and access AWS resources. Finally, Part 4 teaches elasticity and scalability on the platform with best practices building top-notch architectures and implementing groups that scale automatically.The $796 training package to become a certified AWS pro is discounted now to just $29.96, a small price to pay to land a six-figure gig. Read the rest

As a magician and sleight-of-hand artist, I've been wrestling with the thorny and slippery notion of Art for a long time. A recent "magical project" rekindled my attention about this ongoing quest. Here follow my latest musings on this domain.What is Art?Art can be seen as the lifeblood running through the veins of human history. From prelinguistic cave dweller to postmodern city dweller, art stands as a witness to the evolution of every culture, reflecting and participating in our views of reality, consciousness, and the cosmos. Art existed long before the word "art" itself existed; for most of history there were no museums, no galleries, no concert halls, and no special class of people to be known as "artists." As human societies developed and evolved, so did the category of art -- which now includes a boundless constellation of forms, languages, media, materials, technologies, and aesthetic theories. As a result, the contemporary discourse on art is a fascinating and intricate spectacle. Many players -- creators, critics, curators, merchants, collectors -- interact within a matrix of sociological, cultural, political, and economic forces. The interplay of unpredictable factors generates the perceived value of artists, as well as the price of their work, and ultimately what ends up being labelled as art. The art industry produces an unstoppable stream of innovative ideas and artifacts, never-seen-before contaminations, and all sorts of category-defying "artwork." On the inevitable flip side are all kinds of aberrant deviations and plainly Barnumesque stunts. Today, everyone is welcome to decide for themselves what is what, and consume any piece of the cake of their liking. Read the rest

Famed Columbia University Ob-Gyn Dr. Robert Hadden was arrested in 2012 for licking a patient's vagina, but prosecutors didn't press charges, so Dr. Hadden went back to work. In the following weeks, he allegedly assaulted two more women, including Evelyn Yang, wife of former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, reports CNN.Dr. Hadden took a plea deal and was able to register as the lowest-level sex offender. He was given no prison sentence, no probation, and no community service.From CNN:This defied the recommendation of the State of New York Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders to label Hadden a Level 2 -- or moderate -- offender, which would require his inclusion in an online sex-offender registry for life.Elie Honig, a former federal and state prosecutor and a CNN legal analyst, called the 2016 agreement "inexplicable.""I cannot think of any legitimate reason why you would give this guy a plea deal that would not put him behind bars for one day," he said. "It is unjust."Since Yang went public with the assault, Dr. Hadden had been accused by 42 more women of sexual assault. Unfortunately, Dr. Hadden's plea deal includes a stipulation that the New York district attorney can't prosecute him for any of the 19 "similar crimes" the DA knew about.Manhattan's DA refused to speak with CNN.Image: CNN Read the rest

"Two men, one highly detailed resin fantasy village, and five days to paint it."If you're a fantasy tabletop gamer, you likely know about Tabletop World, two Croatian terrain makers whose resign-cast buildings are the gold standard in tabletop gaming.You may also know Goobertown Hobbies and Real Terrain Hobbies, two of the best painters and terrain crafters in the game.Tabletop World sent them $2500 worth of buildings, a small Medieval village, and the two crafters challenged each other to paint the town in just five days.Besides it being fun to watch these guys hang out and paint these jaw-dropping buildings together, there are a lot of cool terrain painting and weathering techniques you can pick up.Image: YouYube Read the rest

The UK's Far Out Magazine has posted the playlists of 27 songs that Lou Reed was listening to when he died in 2013 of liver disease.Reed continually kept his finger on the pulse of contemporary and popular music. Taking a hands-on approach to the developing technology around him, Reed controlled his own Spotify account which hosted several different playlists of songs he liked from the radio, or, alternatively, general songs he was listening to at that time.Entitled ‘What I’m listening to’, Reed’s final contributions to his creative Spotify account was to curate two playlists for his followers. Combining some more predictable selections with the likes of Roy Orbison, Prince, Tom Waits and more, Reed also managed to raise a few eyebrows when he includes artists such as Nicki Minaj, Robyn and more.Read the rest of the piece and access the playlists here.Image: Danny Norton, CC BY 2.0 Read the rest

In this video on Pask Makes, he fashions a really lovely utility knife out of brass using nothing more than common shop tools like a saw, drill, hacksaw, router, files, etc.If you've ever made a tool yourself, you know what an inspired object that tool can become in your shop. Imagine making and gifting one of these to a friend or loved one. They would cherish it for life.Image: YouTube Read the rest