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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

Michael Avenatti, the pugnacious lawyer who rose to fame representing porn star and Trump mistress Stormy Daniels, is now a convicted criminal. A jury found him guilty today of trying to extort millions of dollars from fashion brand Nike by threatening to publicly accuse them of making illegal payments to amateur athletes. He'll be sentenced in June, and faces two other trials: one on a count of fraud, and another for allegedly stealing Daniels' book advance.Avenatti made the sign of the cross prior to the verdict being read, stared at the jury and looked down at the table. He told the lawyers, "Great job, you guys," and hugged one of them as he was led away to a backroom. He was not handcuffed."Of course there will be an appeal," Scott Srebnick, Avenatti's lead defense attorney, told CNN. Srebnick said he was going to meet with Avenatti before his cient was taken to the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he's been in custody throughout the trial. ... Nike lawyers who took the stand during the trial said Avenatti told them he would hold a press conference claiming the company illegally paid players. In exchange for not going public, Avenatti told the lawyers in one meeting Nike would have to pay Franklin $1.5 million for any claims he had and immediately pay Avenatti and another attorney $12 million, and guarantee $15 to $25 million in payments for an internal investigation, prosecutors said."An old fashioned shakedown," as the prosecutor put it. Read the rest

Outside of Black Friday, there may be no bigger shopping day than the often-overlooked, unassuming Presidents’ Day. Sure, we can spend the day honoring Washington, Lincoln, and the rest of the crew — or we can just celebrate by embracing good old fashion American capitalism.Hewlett Packard knows which way you want to go. The tech giant is jumping into the fray with both feet this year, offering up to 60 percent off on over 130 items as part of their Presidents’ Day Sale. If you’ve had your heart set on a new desktop, laptop, or even some flashy new peripheries for your office, this may be the perfect time to strike.Here are a few of the standout offers: the HP Pavilion Laptop 15z, featuring an AMD Ryzen 5 3500U processor and 16GB of SDRAM, is only $549.99, a huge $750 savings off its regular price.If gaming is your thing, you can upgrade your setup with a built-to-your-specs HP OMEN Obelisk 875-1040st desktop, powered by the new NVIDIA Turing GPU and a GeForce RTX graphics card. Regularly $1,399, this gaming behemoth is $300 off, down to just $1,099.Even if you’re good with your base computer, you can also check out dozens of similarly discounted items, including printers, monitors, headphones, keyboards, software, and more.And on top of those deals, you can also throw in a special code at checkout for even bigger savings: use code 5PDS2020 to get an extra 5 percent off select configurable PCs and bundles priced at $599 or more, or use code 10PDS2020 to get an extra 10 percent off PCs and bundles over $999. Read the rest

Starting in 2007, photographer and visual effects artist Dimitris Tsalkanis has been building a digital 3D model of ancient Athens. The result is an immersive historical recreation where everyone online is invited. How did Tsalkanis handle this Herculean (rather, Heraklean) task? He learned as he went. From Sarah Rose Sharp's article about Ancient Athens 3D in Hyperallergic:“I had no previous experience on 3D and I started experimenting in my spare time,” said Tsalkanis in an email interview with Hyperallergic. “I always liked archaeology and since I am from Athens, I was always interested in its monuments and history. During my research, I realised that up until then no one had attempted a complete 3D reconstruction of ancient Athens..."Tsalkanis stays up to date with his fantasy city, updating reconstructions constantly for better quality of models and better archaeological and historical accuracy...Visitors to the site can browse reconstructions that date back as early as 1200 BCE, the Mycenaean period — or Bronze Age — through Classical Athens, featuring the rebuilds made necessary by the Greco-Persian War, and ages of occupation by Romans and Ottomans."Explore Ancient Athens Online Through 3D Models, Created by One Animator Over 12 Years" (Hyperallergic, thanks Mark Dery!)Images below: "Aerial view of the Library of Hadrian" and "Panoramic view of the Acropolis," Dimitris Tsalkanis/Ancient Athens 3D Read the rest

This is a really cool homebuilt arcade game project. “My hobby is designing and building unique arcade games from scratch,” says IMGURian @builtbyblatt. “This is The Blatt Box.”This is Speed mode. You have 45 seconds to score as many points as possible by stopping two lights in circular motion when they meet at a tangent point. Each time you score the circles and direction are randomly reset. There is a small time penalty for a wrong stop and a small time bonus for a hit. The speed increases each time you score.Check out the entire gallery, and --“If you want to support a friendly arcade artist, and see other original games, you can find me on Instagram - @BuiltByBlatt.”My hobby is designing and building unique arcade games from scratch. This is The Blatt Box. Read the rest

An orphaned black bear cub has been placed with a substitute bear mom this week after the little baby bear was saved by a family dog, and tenderly brought to safety.The amazing images of the rescued black bear cub in this post are from the Wildlife Center of Virginia, you can donate to them here.Meet Black Bear cub #20-0084. From the Wildlife Center of Virginia:On February 6, an infant male Black Bear cub was admitted to the Wildlife Center. The cub was found the evening before in Washington County when a family dog brought home the tiny cub. The homeowners were unsure where the cub came from, so they called the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF). A biologist transported the cub to the Center.Dr. Claire, the Center’s veterinary intern, examined the cub when he arrived and found that the cub was bright and alert, and vocalizing readily. The cub weighed just 540 g – smaller than cub #20-0064 at admission – and was mildly dehydrated, though otherwise was healthy.The cub was settled into an incubator, and the rehabilitation staff added him to their ‘round-the-clock bottle feeding scheduleThe wildlife rehab staff described Black Bear cub #20-0084 as bright, alert and “vocalizing readily.” They say the cub was placed with a new bear mother who was already nursing three cubs of her own on Wednesday.From Southwest Virginia Today: Staff members soon plan to introduce the cub to another cub at the center. Read the rest

He wants to know why can't bring his emotional support life-sized cutout of Trump with him to treatments

Thirty years ago today, the Voyager 1 spaceprobe had completed its ncounters with the outer planets and was careening out of our solar system. The time came to shut off the probes' cameras to preserve power and memory for the other onboard scientific instruments. But before engineers flipped the switch, one last photo opportunity was not to be missed. From my liner notes to the Voyager Golden Record vinyl box set:Astronomer and educator Carl Sagan, a member of the Voyager Imaging Team, had persuaded NASA engineers to turn Voyager 1’s cameras back toward the sun and take the first-ever portrait of our solar system from beyond its outer boundary. Sixty frames, taken on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1990, were combined into a single mosaic, known today as the “Solar System Portrait,” albeit with Mars and Mercury lost in the sun’s glare. Centered in a ray of scattered light in the camera’s optics is a tiny speck, just .12 pixels in size: Earth from 6 billion kilometers away—a “pale blue dot,” as Sagan called it. It’s an iconic image that holds the power to shift our perspective in an instant. “There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world,” Sagan wrote in Pale Blue Dot (1994). “To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.” Please join us in celebrating Carl Sagan's valentine to humanity:(image: NASA) Read the rest

This video has the internet legitimately divided .Dude is in the last seat on the plane. Seat doesn’t recline.Hers does. And she reclines.He’s upset, and is punching her seat incessantly— so she records.Who is right?!Who is wrong?!See you at 7p on #FOX5LION@fox5dc pic.twitter.com/jjjTLLwvEc— Marina Marraco (@MarinaMarraco) February 12, 2020Remember Wendi Williams, the woman who videotaped the man behind her who wouldn't stop punching her seat because she had reclined it?Well, TMZ has a photo of a "passenger disturbance notice" that a flight attendant handed to Williams, warning her that she could be federally prosecuted for not complying with the flight attendant's order to delete the video she'd taken of the seat puncher. The attendant also threatened to kick Williams off the plane if she didn't delete the video. Williams says she deleted the video, but was able to recover it and post it to Twitter.According to TMZ, Williams believes she may have suffered damage from the repeated punches, because she says she has had a number of back surgeries in the past as well as titanium implants in her vertebrae. She wants the seat puncher identified and prosecuted.Williams told TMZ she took the video as a way to stop the man from continuing to violently punching her seat, and that once the man realized he was being taped, he reduced the force of the punches so that they were just an "irritation."Here's the TMZ video interview with Williams:Image: Twitter screengrab Read the rest

While scientists have studied Moon rocks for 50 years, researchers have for the first time conducted deep analysis on a single grain of lunar dust, atom by atom. Using a common materials science technique called atom probe tomography that's not widely used by geologists, the Chicago Field Museum's Jennika Greer and colleagues probed the grain of soil -- about the width of a human hair -- and were able to learn about the Moon's surface its elemental composition. From the Field Museum:In that tiny grain, she identified products of space weathering, pure iron, water and helium, that formed through the interactions of the lunar soil with the space environment. Extracting these precious resources from lunar soil could help future astronauts sustain their activities on the Moon...Once the sample was inside the atom probe at Northwestern University, Greer zapped it with a laser to knock atoms off one by one. As the atoms flew off the sample, they struck a detector plate. Heavier elements, like iron, take longer to reach the detector than lighter elements, like hydrogen. By measuring the time between the laser firing and the atom striking the detector, the instrument is able to determine the type of atom at that position and its charge. Finally, Greer reconstructed the data in three dimensions, using a color-coded point for each atom and molecule to make a nanoscale 3D map of the Moon dust...Studying soil from the moon's surface gives scientists insight into an important force within our Solar System: space weathering. Read the rest

We've written here at Boing Boing before about Mike Bloomberg's awful memes, which the 2020 presidential hopeful's campaign machine crapped out on Facebook and Instagram this week with awful accounts like FuckJerry. Facebook said Friday it will allow 'influencers' like FuckJerry to produce sponsored content for political campaigns, as long as the posts are clearly identified as ads, but sponsored political content will not be placed in Facebook’s political Ad Library, unless they're "boosted" by the influencer as a paid post, the company announced on Friday. So, they're ads for political campaigns, but they're not political ads. Got it.One of the other accounts getting paid by Bloomberg's 2020 campaign is @kalesalad, a meme account run by BuzzFeed employee Samir Mezrahi. What?Reports Makena Kelly at The Verge:Before Friday, Facebook didn’t have any guidelines for influencers who create sponsored content for politicians and political campaigns. But after Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign was found to have paid popular Instagram meme pages for posts, Facebook decided to allow these paid political partnerships.Sponsored political content will not be placed in Facebook’s political Ad Library unless the creator pays to boost their posts, a Facebook spokesperson confirmed to The Verge. Facebook does not receive any money for sponsored posts unless they are boosted.These rules will only apply in the United States for now, Facebook said. “Branded content is different from advertising, but in either case we believe it’s important people know when they’re seeing paid content on our platforms,” a Facebook spokesperson told The Verge. Read the rest

Become the best binge-watcher on the block when you add this sweet smart TV to your living room. Not only is this LG television big—hello, 86"—but it's also packed with cutting-edge tech that will finally justify all those hours you spend watching The Mandalorian. Why not take advantage of Presidents' Day sale pricing and snap one up while it's 28% off?Boasting an a7 Intelligent Processor for rich colors and details, 4K Ultra HD resolution with 8.3 million pixels, wide color gamut, and Ultra Surround sound with audio from 7 virtual channels (requiring only the built-in speakers), this smart TV will make you feel like you're part of the action. Also inside its sleek and slim 3.7" frame are features like Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, advanced tone mapping for scene-by-scene optimization, in-plane switching to maintain a more consistent contrast ratio even at wide viewing angles, and built-in Channel Plus service that offers free streaming of full-length movies and today's top 130+ popular channels.Its award-winning OS makes working through the interface super easy, whether you're looking for your favorite app or linking up your compatible smart home devices. Speaking of, AI ThinQ technology allows for voice interaction, so you can tell your TV what to do—at least when it comes to said devices (Alexa, Google Assistant).So if you missed out on those postseason football TV sales, now's a great time to pull the trigger on a serious upgrade to your home entertainment (you'll save loads of money on going out), because the LG 86" 4K HDR Smart LED UHD TV with AI ThinQ is down to $2149.99. Read the rest

RompHim, the rompers-for-men company that achieved viral success a couple of years back, is going out of business. CNN reports that the initial focus on marketing to straight bros limited their appeal from the outset. Remaining stock is 75% off if you want one. Read the rest

Now acquitted by the Senate, the president can glibly admit to what he was accused of. In a chat last night with Geraldo Rivera, Donald Trump says he sent Rudy Giuliani to Ukraine to dig for dirt on political opponents, a fact he insisted was not so during his impeachment trial."Here's my choice: I deal with the Comeys of the world, or I deal with Rudy," Trump said, referring to former FBI Director James Comey. Trump explained that he has "a very bad taste" of the US intelligence community, because of the Russia investigation, so he turned to Giuliani."So when you tell me, why did I use Rudy, and one of the things about Rudy, number one, he was the best prosecutor, you know, one of the best prosecutors, and the best mayor," Trump said. "But also, other presidents had them. FDR had a lawyer who was practically, you know, was totally involved with government. Eisenhower had a lawyer. They all had lawyers." Read the rest

One Zachary Bisenio created a handy chart illustrating age differences in Disney couples. There are some interesting surprises, to be sure, but also lots of statutory rape. Read the rest

Staff at a Wendy's in Greenville, Michigan, are out of a job after video of someone taking a bath in the kitchen sink there went viral.A 23-second video shared on Facebook, originally posted to the TikTok social media platform, shows a young man partially submerged in a ware-washing industrial sink system — normally used to wash kitchen items — laughing and joking inside the restaurant with other employees. ... In the video, one employee wearing a Wendy’s uniform jokingly says “wash yourself” to the individual in the sink. That individual responds with, “It feels like, it feels like a hot tub. I’m just enjoying life,” as a third person recorded the video while additional laughing can be heard in the background. Read the rest

Pyongyang claims that North Korea has no cases of coronavirus, having closed its border with China and suspended all tourism. Experts are skeptical, reports the Daily Mirror, and South Korean media claims that an official returning from China was executed on the spot after it was learned he visited a public spa while there.The trade official, who had been placed in isolation after traveling to China, was arrested and immediately shot for risking the spread of the deadly disease, the Dong-a Ilbo news outlet in South Korea reported.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to “rule by military law” against anyone who leaves quarantine without permission.Photo: North Korean media Read the rest

The wonderfully talented artist and illustrator, Michelle Rial, posted this D & D character alignment chart to her Twitter feed.I need a new hobby pic.twitter.com/bRn5QJ4u90— Michelle Rial (@TheRialMichelle) February 14, 2020Which alignment are you? Would you use different candy hearts?Happy Valentine's Day!Image: Used with Permission Read the rest

This is so amazing. Watch what happens when a blacksmithing anvil is lowered into a large vat of pure liquid mercury.[H/t Alberto Gaitán via Bryce Lynch]Image: Screengrab from GIF Read the rest

China's government health commission in Hubei province reported on Friday that the daily death toll from coronavirus rose by 116.The Hubei province health commission did not report the total number of deaths from the newly identified virus, which was 1,310 on Thursday. From Reuters:Of the new deaths, 88 occurred in the provincial capital of Wuhan, where the flu-like virus is believed to have originated late last year.A further 4,823 cases had been detected in Hubei, taking the total in the province to 51,986. Over four fifths of the province’s new cases were in Wuhan.The daily toll rose by a record of more than 240 on Thursday after the commission began counting cases diagnosed through new clinical methods. More from Twitter, below.The Hubei health authority has reported that 116 more people died of the coronavirus in Hubei province on Thursday.This brings the total number of deaths in mainland China to at least 1,483, with a global total of 1,486. https://t.co/l48rloavyC— CNN International (@cnni) February 14, 2020China's Hubei province reports 116 new coronavirus deaths https://t.co/1m1LQT2iuG pic.twitter.com/qp5MAMFiAM— Reuters (@Reuters) February 14, 2020#Coronavirus latest updates: death rate in China's Hubei slows after spike – live news https://t.co/Ecgq86xn5C— Guardian US (@GuardianUS) February 14, 2020PHOTO, top: Provided by the Government of China through Xinhua, the official state media outlet.A doctor wearing goggles is seen at Xianghu Hospital of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University in Nanchang, east China's Jiangxi Province, Feb. 6, 2020. Read the rest

Canned air is a big help in dusting tight spaces, particularly keyboards, shelves or servers. But the first thing you should know about canned air is that it's not air at all. More likely, what's blowing out of that bottle is fluorocarbons or other mildly toxic substances.Luckily, there's an easy alternative: The X3 Hurricane Variable Speed Canless Air Duster.Like canned air, this system is compact enough to tackle all your tight workspaces. And it's just as quiet, with a trigger that lets you control the power level - ideal for busy offices where you don't want your cleaning routine to disturb your workmates.The big difference is that its motor uses the ambient air instead of some "canned" substitute, blowing it efficiently at up to 260 mph or more. Best of all, it's rechargeable and reusable, which a big advantage over canned air both environmentally and economically.Speaking of economical, the X3 Hurricane Variable Speed Canless Air Duster is now on sale for almost 25% off the MSRP. Read the rest

Robert Pattinson is The Batman in director Matt Reeves's take on the dark knight. Pattinson is best known from the Twilight series while Reeves was behind the lens on Cloverfield (2008), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), and War for the Planet of the Apes (2017).The Batman's cinematographer is Greig Fraser with a score by Michael Giacchino. Costume design is by Jacqueline Durran, Glyn Dillon, and David Crossman.Release date: June 25, 2021. Read the rest

Here are seven of my favorite DIY/maker tips published this year in my weekly newsletter, Gareth's Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales. Etching Metal with a 9v BatteryEtching is easier than you think. Leah of See Jane Drill demonstrates how easy it is to etch a metal surface using little more than a 9v battery and wires, vinegar, salt, and Q-tips.Finding the Thickness of a WireEmory Kimbrough was one of the winners of my Tips book drawing in December. I asked contestants for one great tip. Emory sent me ten. And then, a few days later, he sent me another five – all publication-worthy. I’m excited to share them. Look for more Emory tips in the coming months. Here’s the first one:If you need to find the thickness of a wire but don’t have a micrometer or calipers, wrap the wire around a dowel many times in a tight helix leaving no gaps between the coils. Now, just measure the width of, say, thirty coils with an ordinary ruler and divide by thirty. The more coils you wind, the more accurate your measurement. And even if you do use top-quality digital calipers, it’s even more accurate if you use this wind-and-divide method than if you measure a single thickness.Organize Cables in Dollar Store Pencil CasesThe column I’m currently working on for HackSpace magazine will cover workshop storage and organizing. As part of my research, I asked for relevant storage ideas on my Facebook page. My friend Jake Hildebrandt shared this idea. Read the rest

On Legs McNeil's Please Kill Me, Michael Shelly interviews the legendary bass player, Carol Kaye. Unless you're a hardcore music nerd, you may not know who Carol Kaye is. You need to fix that. Carol Kaye is the bassist on thousands of 20th century recordings, from The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds to Nancy Sinatra's These Boots are Made for Walkin', to Glen Campbell's Wichita Lineman. Oh, and she also played on the Mothers of Invention's Freak Out! and the Batman theme song. The list goes on and on and on. Get this woman into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, stat!PKM: When producers, like Brian Wilson with “Good Vibrations,” would do a single song in parts over many sessions was that frustrating or fun for you?Carol Kaye: You know Brian was a nice young kid. We worked for a lot of those young guys back then and Brian had something special about him, and he grew with every date. You saw his talent getting better and better and better. He’d only do one song for a three-hour date and that does get boring after a while, but he would come in and he’d give you this handwritten, kind of funny sheet music with stems on the wrong side of the notes and sharps and flats everywhere. He would sit down at the piano and play the song, to kind of give us a feel for it, and then he’d go in the booth and take charge from there. Read the rest

Let the co-creator of Prime Climb explain how to play this fast-moving game of quickly changing fortunes. It's on sale today on Amazon. Read the rest

A federal civil rights lawsuit filed this week claims that severely intellectually and physically disabled patients at a state-operated home in Iowa were used as “guinea pigs” in sexual arousal research experiments.A 38-page complaint was filed on Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. In it, former University of Kansas assistant professor and child psychologist, 63-year-old Jerry Rea, is charged with experimenting on the “highly vulnerable” patients at the Glenwood Resource Center. The Des Moines Register reported that Jerry Rea's affiliation with the University of Kansas ended when Rea moved to Iowa. Rea was fired from Glenwood when the feds started looking into abuse allegations last December.“The deeply disturbing allegations come after the same Iowa facility found itself in federal law enforcement crosshairs,” reports Olivia Messer at The Daily Beast:The lawsuit claims that Rea, along with the facility’s other top administrators, used taxpayer money to purchase tools under the auspices of research, including silk sheets, boxer shorts, sexual lubricants, a computer, a software program, and pornographic images. The facility's administrators did not “obtain informed consent” from the patients’ guardians prior to beginning research and later “scramble[d]” to “get consent on behalf of patients that had been experimented on after receiving notice of a new Department of Justice investigation” in 2019, the suit claims.The plans for Rea’s research allegedly included the use of a portable GPS device for measuring sexual arousal, and the plaintiffs note he and a partner received a federal patent in 1998 for a device designed to detect and monitor the sexual arousal of an individual while they are exposed to “real-life sexual stimuli.” Read the rest

Researchers at MIT say the voting app Voatz, which is being used by at least 4 states in the 2020 elections, has major security flaws that could allow an attacker to intercept and alter votes, while making voters think their votes have been cast correctly, or trick the votes server into accepting connections from an attacker.Here's the MIT research paper on Voatz.Excerpt from Kim Zetter's reporting for VICE: An attacker would also be able to alter the user’s vote and trick the user into believing their vote was transmitted accurately, researchers from the Massachusetts Technology Institute write in a paper released Thursday.The app, called Voatz, also has problems with how it handles authentication between the voter’s mobile phone and the backend server, allowing an attacker to impersonate a user’s phone. Even more surprising, although the makers of Voatz have touted its use of blockchain technology to secure the transmission and storage of votes, the researchers found that the blockchain isn’t actually used in the way Voatz claims it is, thereby supplying no additional security to the system.Read the full report at VICE NEWS:'Sloppy' Mobile Voting App Used in Four States Has 'Elementary' Security Flaws[Kim Zetter Feb 13 2020]Worth noting that in addition to today's MIT research warning of significant vulns in Voatz, we also have a DHS report that found no evidence of malicious activity but plenty of recs for improved security. Voatz hadn't previously made any reports public.https://t.co/4WEqslXXxp— Kevin Collier (@kevincollier) February 13, 2020Calling the app 'Voatz' didn't really inspire confidence to start with. Read the rest

Aww, the sycophant is sick of it.Today, impeached president Donald Trump's manifestly corrupt personal attorney general Bill Barr said in an interview with ABC News, “The president has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case,” but that Trump should stop tweeting about the Justice Department because the president's tweets “make it impossible for me to do my job.” Donald Trump has been completely unhinged on Twitter lately, making obviously inappropriate and probably unlawful comments about Roger Stone's prison sentencing that indicate not only his likely involvement in obstruction of justice, but which also implicate Barr -- not something Barr wants, I'd imagine.From the transcript:"Well, I have a problem with some of, some of the tweets. As I said at my confirmation hearing, I think the essential role of the attorney general is to keep law enforcement, the criminal process sacrosanct to make sure there is no political interference in it."“To have public statements and tweets made about the department, about people in the department, our men and women here, about cases pending in the department, and about judges when we have cases make it impossible for me to do my job.”Mean tweets.Hey, Bill?Then, resign.EXCLUSIVE: Attorney General Bill Barr tells @ABC News “the president has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case”—but should stop tweeting about the Justice Dept. because his tweets “make it impossible for me to do my job.” https://t.co/18O3rlUGIn— ABC News (@ABC) February 13, 2020EXCLUSIVE: Attorney Gen. Read the rest

The IRS removed language from their Web site that listed Fortnite V-Bucks and Roblox Robux as examples of convertible virtual currencies, like Bitcoin. They were included on a page about virtual currencies as they relate to a new question on IRS Form 1040 that asks whether the taxpayer, sold, exchanged, or acquired financial interest in any virtual currency. From Bloomberg:The language was removed hours after Bloomberg Tax asked if gamers who purchased or earned in-game currencies would have to disclose that on their 2019 tax returns.IRS Chief Counsel Michael Desmond indicated that the inclusion of the video game currencies was a mistake, though he offered no insight on how they ended up alongside Bitcoin on the list of examples.“It was corrected and that was done quickly—as soon as it was brought to our attention,” Desmond told reporters Thursday at a Tax Council Policy Institute conference in Washington...Desmond demurred when asked to confirm that gamers wouldn’t need to mark ‘yes’ to the new 1040 question, but said addressing gaming currencies in the virtual currency context isn’t a major focus for the agency right now.image: Epic Games Read the rest

Scientists say 20.75º C logged at Seymour Island is ‘incredible and abnormal’