Watch this immediately.@CBSThisMorning’s @tonydokoupil using an epic pie analogy to show how the plutes own everything. pic.twitter.com/p4AShY04rA— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) January 31, 2020I knew the ultra rich own almost all the wealth, but this video really drives the point home in a powerful way. I was shocked all over again. Read the rest

This suture practice kit, which lets you stitch rubber wounds, comes with training videos created by a board-certified surgeon. What a fun gift idea. You can buy them on Amazon.This suture kit that allows you to practice stitches: from r/DamnthatsinterestingImage: Reddit video screenshot Read the rest

As predicted, via the Trump White House — the Pentagon is relaxing its policy on the use of landmines by U.S, forces, so that landmines can be used on the Korean peninsula.A Friday afternoon statement by the Trump Press Secretary formally announced that Trump has canceled the Obama Administration’s policy to ban United States military forces from using anti-personnel landmines outside of the Korean Peninsula. Said Stephanie Grisham to reporters: "The President is unwilling to accept this risk to our troops."PREVIOUSLY ON BOING BOING:Landmines are actually good, says Defense Sec as Trump prepares to undo Obama-era landmine banPresident Trump formally cancels Obama-era restrictions on use of landmines, WH announces pic.twitter.com/Se1MBNwtcP— Jordan Fabian (@Jordanfabian) January 31, 2020Just in from the White House - Pentagon is relaxing its policy on use of landmines so that they can be used outside of South Korea/DMZ— Josh Lederman (@JoshNBCNews) January 31, 2020Trump has canceled the Obama Administration’s policy to prohibit United States military forces from employing anti-personnel landmines outside of the Korean Peninsula. pic.twitter.com/ExZlHr19Jl— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) January 31, 2020From Afghanistan & Angola to Cambodia & Colombia, anti-personnel landmines have devasted soldiers & civilians alike.For nearly 3 decades the US has limited their use, production & export — and for the past decade, used them only on the Korean Peninsula. https://t.co/Ey8KbUMaGe— Rep. Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) January 31, 2020The U.S. will now allow "advanced, non-persistent landmines specifically designed to reduce unintended harm to civilians and partner forces" to allow the military more "flexibility and capability." Read the rest

What unreleased FSD Autopilot sees. Straight from Tesla Autopilot recruiting website. pic.twitter.com/EaI5DzKbYs— The Tesla Show (@TheTeslaShow) January 31, 2020From The Tesla Show Twitter feed: "What unreleased FSD Autopilot sees. Straight from Tesla Autopilot recruiting website."From the job description:Apply cutting-edge research to train deep neural networks on problems ranging from perception to control. Our per-camera networks analyze raw images to perform semantic segmentation, object detection and monocular depth estimation. Our birds-eye-view networks take video from all cameras to output the road layout, static infrastructure and 3D objects directly in the top-down view. Our networks learn from the most complicated and diverse scenarios in the world, iteratively sourced from our fleet of nearly 1M vehicles in real time. A full build of Autopilot neural networks involves 48 networks that take 70,000 GPU hours to train 🔥. Together, they output 1,000 distinct tensors (predictions) at each timestep.Image: Twitter screengrab Read the rest

Some activists must have been heard, California's Attorney General has delayed the transaction wherein a private equity firm is buying the .ORG tld, seeking more information.Mashable:California Attorney General Xavier Becerra sent a letter to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) demanding more information about the private equity takeover of the .org domain registry. The attorney general is seeking answers to 35 questions concerning the sale as well as documents sent between ICANN, private equity firm Ethos Capital, and Public Interest Registry (PIR), which manages the .org domain.Ethos Capital disclosed last year that it was acquiring PIR from its non-profit parent organization, the Internet Society, for $1.135 billion.ICANN, the non-profit organization that oversees domain names, disclosed the letter on its website along with its own correspondence with PIR, informing it of the development. Previously, ICANN had until Feb. 17 to approve or deny the sale. According to ICANN, as a result of the California AG’s letter, it’s seeking to delay this deadline until April 20. Read the rest

• CDC issues federal quarantine orders for 195 Americans evacuated from China, who are being housed at March Air Reserve Base• First CDC quarantine in 50 years. Last federal quarantine was issued in the 1960s for smallpox. • The repatriated individuals will remain quarantined for 14 days, starting from when the flight left China.FRIDAY, 1PM EASTERN, JAN 31 2020: The United States Centers for Disease Control, under the authority of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, says 195 American citizens are quarantined at a military base after having been evacuated from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of a growing global coronavirus outbreak. The 195 quarantined persons arrived earlier this week at March Air Reserve Base in California.Here is the CDC's tweet:The CDC, under statutory authority of the Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, has issued federal quarantine orders to all 195 United States citizens who repatriated to the U.S. on January 29, 2020. The quarantine will last 14 days from when the plane left Wuhan, China.— CDC (@CDCgov) January 31, 2020From the Washington Post: BREAKING: The quarantine authority, rarely used in the United States, would restrict the travelers’ movements for 14 days from when they left Wuhan, China, because officials say they’re still uncertain about how readily the virus spreads.All American citizens returning to the United States from Wuhan, China, will be quarantined, according to the Friday announcement.Last time the CDC imposed a quarantine order was in the 1960s, for a smallpox evaluation, the CDC official said on a Friday call with reporters. Read the rest

Trump asked national security adviser last spring in front of other senior advisers to arrange meeting between Rudolph Giuliani and Ukraine’s new leader ZelenskyWell, who bet that more Bolton book bombshells would explode on Friday? You win.“Trump asked Bolton to call Zelensky to ensure he would meet with Giuliani. Cipollone and Mulvaney were in room.” -- @nytmike.Oh boy.Excerpt from new reporting Friday by Maggie Haberman and Michael Schmidt at the New York Times:More than two months before he asked Ukraine’s president to investigate his political opponents, President Trump directed John R. Bolton, then his national security adviser, to help with his pressure campaign to extract damaging information on Democrats from Ukrainian officials, according to an unpublished manuscript by Mr. Bolton.Mr. Trump gave the instruction, Mr. Bolton wrote, during an Oval Office conversation in early May that included the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, the president’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, who is now leading the president’s impeachment defense.Mr. Trump told Mr. Bolton to call Volodymyr Zelensky, who had recently won election as president of Ukraine, to ensure Mr. Zelensky would meet with Mr. Giuliani, who was planning a trip to Ukraine to discuss the investigations that the president sought, in Mr. Bolton’s account. Mr. Bolton never made the call, he wrote.Read more at the Times. Read the rest

Drones are now hovering over people in the streets of china, scolding those who aren't wearing face masks to protect them from the coronavirus, and it's quite eerie. Watch the video in the tweet below from the Communist Party's Global Times of the different folks the drone calls out, including an older woman: “Yes, auntie, this is the drone speaking to you. You shouldn't walk about without wearing a mask. Yes you'd better go back home and don't forget to wash your hands.”Chinese officials in rural areas are creatively using #drones to make sure local residents don‘t gather together without wearing masks during the nationwide battle against the #coronavirus. https://t.co/e6khcWvUrx pic.twitter.com/td7u1ZZ4Kz— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) January 31, 2020 Source: The Washington Post Read the rest

This Redragon 10-keyless mechanical gaming keyboard has increased my gaming enjoyment.I moved from controller to KB+M gameplay and things are better! I mostly wanted the insane update that moving to a modern graphics chipset, ram and storage would bring but the increased control of playing games with a keyboard and mouse are a huge bonus.I settled on this Logitech gaming mouse.The Redragon keyboard is a tactile delight. Solid and well made it is pleasing to rest my hand upon. The keys offer good resistance and click. Keys also are firmly in place and I do not feel any wiggle or give under my fingers, there is no side-to-side torsion to worry about.The keyboard itself sits firmly on my desk and doesn't want to slide around as I am pushing W and constantly driving my character forward.For less than $40 this keyboard is a winner, and helps me be one.Redragon K552 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, RGB Rainbow Backlit, 87 Keys, Tenkeyless, Compact Steel Construction with Cherry MX Blue Switches for Windows PC Gamer (Black)by Redragon via Amazon Read the rest

Vice asked its readers to tell them about scams they'd been subjected to trying to book and stay at AirBnB locations. It received thousands of stories: enough to generate a ranked list of the most widespread frauds pulled by AirBnB listers.The stories quickly started to fall into easily discernible categories. Scammers all over the world, it seems, have figured how best to game the Airbnb platform: by engaging in bait and switches; charging guests for fake damages; persuading people to pay outside the Airbnb app; and, when all else fails, engaging in clumsy or threatening demands for five-star reviews to hide the evidence of what they’ve done. (Or, in some cases, a combination of several of these scams.)In the aggregate, these emails paint a portrait of a platform whose creators are fundamentally unable to track what goes on within it, and point to easily exploitable loopholes that scammers have steamed their way through by the truckload.The company's solution appears to be generous to screwed-over customers, booking hotels and handing out nearby upgrades, but to let the scams happen and to let the scammers stay. They've presumably calculated that policing listings would be more expensive. The moral hazard this creates -- consider people who don't complain, or who are simply tricked out of money rather than literally stranded -- is overwhelming. Read the rest

As we've been blogging here at Boing Boing, the Wuhan coronavirus continues to spread, and airlines have begun suspending flights to and from China, where most confirmed cases are located. • As of Friday, 11AM Eastern time, the Novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV outbreak has killed more than 200 people and infected an estimated 10,000. • On Friday, the U.S. issued a travel warning telling Americans to stay out of China.• The Chinese government replied by calling the U.S. 'mean' for the travel advisory.• Delta today suspended ALL US-CHINA FLIGHTS.• Commercial pilots, flight attendants, and other airline workers are demanding that more airlines shut down traffic to and from mainland China.HERE IS AN UPDATED LIST OF AIRLINES CANCELING FLIGHTS TO CHINA Source: Reuters.IN ALPHABETICAL ORDERAIR CANADAAir Canada said on Jan. 28 it was cancelling select flights to China.AIR FRANCEAir France said on Jan. 30 it suspended all scheduled flights to and from mainland China until Feb. 9.AIR INDIAAir India said it was cancelling its Mumbai-Delhi-Shanghai flight from Jan. 31 to Feb. 14.AIR NEW ZEALANDAir New Zealand said on Jan. 31 it was temporarily reducing flights between Auckland and Shanghai to four return services a week from Feb. 18 to March 31 rather than the usual daily flights.AIR SEOULSouth Korean budget carrier Air Seoul said on Jan. 28 it had suspended all flights to China.AIR TANZANIATanzania’s state-owned carrier said it would postpone its maiden flights to China. Read the rest

This goat knows the routine as it excitedly jumps on the man for its morning pastries. It then jumps on the back of the man's motorcycle and embraces him as it reaches for more of the sweet stuff. Proof that goodness still exists in the world. Read the rest

I have lost hours of my life to Badger, Badger, Badger and the meter is clearly still running. Read the rest

Carnage-Boy asks: "What if Sam Mendes' latest badass movie was set in Bikini Bottom instead of Pas-de-Calais?"Here's the original trailer: Read the rest

My friend Peg Kay Aloi, a modern practicing witch, has two articles out on the “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina." In the first one, on Arts Fuse, she reviews the third season of the show and discusses the importance of the season's plot arc (spoilers aplenty).Also at the end of Season Two, Sabrina’s Aunt Zelda (the excellent Miranda Otto) renounced her marriage to Faustus, who turned out to be a misogynist patriarch. The coven of Satanic witches who preside over the shadow side of Greendale are a sort of elite society with their own boarding school. The daytime Greendale is all Scooby-Doo high school hijinks (with some intersectional activism and coming-of-age drama thrown in). Because of her duel nature, witch and mortal, Sabrina straddles these worlds. In Season One, her Sweet Sixteen Party was also her Dark Baptism, the ritual when witches must proclaim their allegiance to the Dark Lord. The Satanic antics are all rather arch and fantastical (Aunt Zelda’s smiling “Praise Satan” is now a popular meme), making this all rather fun and entertaining.In her second piece, for Refinery 29, Peg compares the show's TV hocus-pocus to modern, real-world witchcraft.RIGHT: Sex can be part of witches’ magical workings The show’s emphasis on sexuality keeps it firmly in the “adult” genre while also portraying a fascinating yet sometimes controversial aspect of modern witchcraft. Many of the seasonal holidays of Wicca have their origins in ancient rites performed by Europeans — including the rather erotic ritual of Lupercalia seen previously in Season 2, episode 3. Read the rest

Philosophia-47: "On the occasion of the Chinese New Year, here is a PJ17 image as seen through the eyes of famous Song Dynasty artist Chen Rong."The source image is from the Juno Mission's processing page.This is where we will post raw images. We invite you to download them, do your own image processing, and we encourage you to upload your creations for us to enjoy and share. The types of image processing we’d love to see range from simply cropping an image to highlighting a particular atmospheric feature, as well as adding your own color enhancements, creating collages and adding advanced color reconstruction.With the important caveat: "Please refrain from direct use of any official NASA or Juno mission logos in your work, as this confuses what is officially sanctioned by NASA and by the Juno Project." Read the rest

John Delaney, former representative of Maryland's 6th district, is dropping out of the race to become the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 2020."It has been a privilege to campaign for the Democratic nomination for President, but it is clear that God has a different purpose for me at this moment in time," Delaney wrote on Twitter, followed by a 17-tweet explanation. Half an hour after posting, each tweet in the sequence had been retweeted once, by Delaney's one reply guy. Some of the tweets' like counts are hitting double digits, however, a successful signoff for one of the party's most interesting candidates.In July 2017, he became the first Democrat to announce that he was running for president in 2020, doing so in a Washington Post op-ed. But despite campaigning heavily in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, Delaney failed to pick up considerable support, and missed the cut off for the several of the recent Democratic debates. Read the rest

Paul Barton (previously at Boing Boing) plays the piano for elephants and has been at it for many years. Here he is performing Beethoven's Quasi una fantasia, the Moonlight Sonata, for an old one who's led a rough life. Mongkol is a 61-year-old former logging elephant. His captive-held life was spent hauling trees in the Thai forest. His body shape is deformed through hard labor, he lost his right eye and tusk in this brutal logging practice. Mongkol was rescued and brought to Elephants World to spend the rest of his days relaxing peacefully in freedom by the River Kwai. I discovered Mongkol is an extremely gentle, sensitive elephant who enjoys music, especially this slow movement by Beethoven which I play to him occasionally in the day and night. Read the rest

RCtestflight on YouTube was dissastisfied with only being able to light up entire mountainsides from four kilometers away, so replaced the enormous array of LED lamps atop his truck with ones including parabolic reflectors.I initially built a 4kW LED array using 40 100W emitters with 60 degree glass lenses, but the beam was a bit to wide to be practical for use on a vehicle. After that I built a 1.8kW array using 18 100W emitters with parabolic reflectors. It had much better long distance throw and was way more practical.It requires more than 5kw of power to operate. Read the rest

When I was a teen, I lived for the Whole Earth Catalog, homesteading, building geodesic domes, solar power, communes, and other hippie fever dreams. But even back then, when I was literally making my own granola, Michael Reynolds' concept of the "Earthship" seemed too crunchy granola. I suspected that building a house out of garbage -- tires, cans, bottles, hay bales, rammed earth, etc. -- seemed a bit much; likely fraught with issues. But there were parts of the Earthship concept that I thought were smart then and still think so today -- things like passive solar heating, ground convection cooling, berming, rainwater collection, greywater reclamation and re-use.In this video on the excellent YouTube channel, Living Big in a Tiny House, host Bryce Langston visits an off-the-grid Earthship in Adelaide, Australia. This Earthship, while utilizing all of the Reynold's concepts, also touches on another niche building idea that is currently all the rage: The tiny house. This Earthship is a tiny(ish) 750 sq. ft. And you have to admit, those bottle wall mosaics look pretty cool. Read the rest

This ad features Raphael, the teenage mutant ninja turtle, brandishing pickles. It's not a perfectly on-model Raph — one commenter at YouTube describes it as "my sleep paralysis demon" — but he's perfect for the mood of the scene. This is also a good entry in the history of advertisements described as "banned" that obviously haven't been banned. Read the rest

“I was in Havana in 1961 during the Bay of Pigs invasion fighting on both sides,” said the great Leonard Cohen in 1965 before reading this fantastic satirical poem he wrote while in Cuba. It's called "The Only Tourist in Havana Turns His Thoughts Homeward."Cohen's experiences in Havana, including being arrested during the revolution there, were documented in a 2018 episode of the animated series Drawn & Recorded, with art by Drew Christie and narration by T Bone Burnett. You can watch the episode's trailer below and read about it in this Billboard article. Read the rest

Whoever said style, comfort, and function couldn’t coexist in the same garment within the same universe clearly hasn’t seen the DudeRobe—an unapologetically unique men’s hooded bathrobe that’s guaranteed to keep you both comfy and cool wherever your awesomeness may lead you.A modern twist on the boring and underwhelming old bathrobes that tend to adorn so many closets throughout the world, this effortlessly sleek and practical robe has been re-engineered into something that guys today actually want to wear.The DudeRobe combines a classic hoodie fit and style with a sweatshirt look on the outside and a supremely comfortable robe on the inside—making it perfect for lounging around the home or attending your friend’s pool party in unparalleled style.It’s made with a 100% cotton exterior and a 100% French Terry interior, and a Never-Lost Belt™ is permanently attached to the waist—meaning you’ll always be able to cinch up on the fly.Treat yourself to a rare combination of eye-catching style and comfort with the DudeRobe: Luxury Men's Hooded Bathrobe while it’s available for 20% off MSRP at just $76. Read the rest

The U.S. State Department is warning Americans not to go to China because of the risk of getting ill from the coronavirus, reports the New York Times. "The department set the new advisory at Level 4, or Red, its highest caution, which is reserved for the most dangerous situations," said the paper.Image by Gianluca Tomasello - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link Read the rest

In this student-made video, students at Richland High School in Richland, Washington were asked what they thought of their mascot, which is a mushroom cloud. The Richland Bombers were in agreement that the logo is awesome. The video then features a statement by a Japanese exchange student attending Richland. She is from Fukuoka, close to Nagasaki, which was hit by an atomic bomb in WWII. She says, "It is ironic that I ended up a Bomber. My city was initially targeted to be destroyed by the bomb. My grandparents would have been incinerated." She concludes with an articulate and moving request for her fellow students to think about what the logo represents to other people. Read the rest

This is an absolutely lovely example of a very well restored 1975 BMW R90S.I am also a fan of this '74 silver smoke, but I prefer the 1976 in Daytona Orange. Read the rest

Recovered from a burglar's haul, this "distinctive silver ring" was posted to social media by North Yorkshire Police in hopes of returning it to its onwer. They are quite oblivious to its significance and hope "someone will recognize the markings."Unfortunately we haven’t been able to find the owner of the ring and return it to them. As it is such a distinctive piece of jewellery, we’re hoping that someone will recognise the markings and be able to tell us who it rightfully belongs to, as I’m sure someone, somewhere is missing it.From the Facebook comments:"The ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom, only there can it be unmade""The ring must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came. One of you must do this.""It has been lost before and the last time, it turned into a continent spanning ball ache" Read the rest

The Museum of London will soon publicly display Charles I's execution vest for the first time. The doomed king wore the silk garment to the chopping block after his defeat in the English Civil War of the 17th century; 30 January is the 371st anniversary of his death at the Banqueting House on Whitehall.The stains are said to be vomit, not blood. Read the rest

I was able to inspect these K. Haring bubblers, rigs, water pipes, tasters, spoon pipes, glass trays, and catchalls up close and they are stunning, museum quality pieces. The prices range from $220 for the water pipe down to $30 for the taster. There's also a Bic lighter with the same Haring motif for $5. In the coming months the manufacturer will introduce three additional color designs featuring Haring's work. Read the rest

Anyone can make a new year’s resolution list, but it takes a certain type of tenacity and planning to actually check off those boxes so you can live a happier and healthier life in 2020.This Pagico 9: Task & Data Management Software will help you become more productive and efficient in every area of your life so you have more time to tackle that resolution list, and it’s available for 50% off MSRP today.This all-in-one task and data management tool will help you simplify all of your tasks and focus on what needs to get done—both at work and at home.Combining a variety of task timelines, project visualizations, daily planning sessions, and other time-saving productivity tools, this best-selling app makes it easy to organize your life so you can get more done, and it’s easy to keep track of both your personal and professional projects within a single interface.Pagico 9 also comes with a handy browser extension that allows you to quickly turn entire webpages into simplified tasks that you can add to all of your lists.Hit those resolutions in 2020 with help from Pagico 9 for just $25—50% off its list price today. Read the rest

Airlines around the world have already begun suspending flights to and from mainland China, where most cases of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak are located.As of Thursday, 170 people have died, and almost 8,000 are believed to be infected.The World Health Organization just declared a global emergency as Novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV continues to spread. And also today, as our Carla Sinclair wrote, the first person-to-person transmission of coronavirus was confirmed in the US.Here, via Reuters, is a list of airlines halting or restricting service to and from mainland China:elow are details (in alphabetical order):AIR CANADAAir Canada said on Jan. 28 it was cancelling select flights to China.AIR FRANCEAir France said on Jan. 30 it suspended all scheduled flights to and from mainland China until Feb. 9.AIR INDIAAir India said it was cancelling its Mumbai-Delhi-Shanghai flight from Jan. 31 to Feb. 14.AIR SEOULSouth Korean budget carrier Air Seoul said on Jan. 28 it had suspended all flights to China.AIR TANZANIATanzania’s state-owned carrier said it would postpone its maiden flights to China. It had planned to begin charter flights to China in February.AMERICAN AIRLINESThe largest U.S. carrier said it would suspend flights from Los Angeles to Beijing and Shanghai from Feb. 9 to March 27.BRITISH AIRWAYSBA said on Jan. 30 it had cancelled all flights to mainland China for a month.CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYSHong Kong’s Cathay Pacific said it would progressively reduce capacity to and from mainland China by 50% or more from Jan. Read the rest

The U.K. government has said there will be "no haggling" over the extradition of Anne Sacoolas, the American diplomat's wife who fled Britain after accidentally killing a motorcyclist there.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had earlier responded ambiguously to a question whether a "deal was to be done" involving Prince Andrew, who has failed to cooperate with a U.S. investigation into his alleged rape of a 17 year-old-girl.The secretary of state replied: "Yeah, I can answer that. I am confident each of these cases will be resolved on their relative merits."Mr Raab added: "There is no barter, it's a rules-based approach. That's what the treaty does ... There is no haggle and no-one's raised Prince Andrew. Frankly, no-one has ever raised that with me."Mr Pompeo countered: "Yes, now they have."Now they have. Read the rest

The iconic Rotring 600 is on sale on Amazon today for . Unlike the 500 (which I also like) the 600 has an all-metal body, which a lot of people prefer. At current prices on Amazon the 600 is cheaper than the 500. Read the rest

The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) has declared a global emergency as the so-called Wuhan Coronavirus continues to spread.The WHO's declaration came as the number of Novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV cases rose to nearly 8,000 worldwide, nearly all in mainland China.The W.H.O.’s declaration — officially called a “public health emergency of international concern” — does not have the force of law. But it serves notice to all United Nations member states that the world’s top health advisory body thinks the situation is grave. Governments then make their own decisions about whether to close their borders, cancel flights, screen people arriving at airports or take other protective measures.Declaring emergencies also adds urgency to any W.H.O. appeal for money. Thus far, that is hardly relevant: The countries most affected — China, Japan, Germany, South Korea, the United States and Vietnam — can afford to wage their own battles against the virus. Read more:W.H.O. Declares Global Emergency as Wuhan Coronavirus SpreadsRELATED:Earlier today, as our Carla Sinclair wrote, the first person-to-person transmission of coronavirus was confirmed in the US. Read the rest

In the game Speaking Simulator (Steam and Switch) you play a robot disguised as a human that tries to fit in the real world. Your job it to control its mouth to make it talk in a way that passes muster. If you aren't good at your job, the robot's head will explode.<p><em>[<a href="https://waxy.org/">via Waxy</a>]</em>Image: YouTube Read the rest

CBS's All Access streaming service costs $6 a month and it's the only (legit) way to watch the new series, Star Trek: Picard. But to give you a free taste in the hope you'll sign up, the first episode of Picard is on YouTube.Image: YouTube Read the rest

"Twisting reality, one video at a time," VFX artist Kevin Lustgarten regularly churns out amazing optical illusions like this one for our visual pleasure. See more of his stuff on Instagram. Read the rest

A second person in Chicago has come down with the coronavirus, bringing the total of coronavirus patients in the US up to six (two in Chicago, two in California, one in Seattle, and one in Arizona). But this is the first case that was transmitted person-to-person within the US (the other five patients became infected in China). According to NBC:The new patient lives with a Chicago woman in her 60s who was diagnosed after returning last month from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak that's now sickened upward of 8,000 people.With more than 8,000 confirmed cases of the conronavirus (mostly in China), and at least 170 deaths, The World Health Organization is meeting again today to determine whether it should be declared as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.Image: By National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH) - National Institutes of Health (NIH), Public Domain, Link Read the rest

Facebook issued a disappointed quarterly report, sending its stock price down by 8%, reports CNBC. In the report, "Facebook also warned of advertising headwinds related to privacy and regulatory changes on the horizon, leading to slowing growth in the U.S. Facebook said privacy improvements on Apple’s iPhones and Google’s Android software could hurt its ability to target advertising." Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash Read the rest

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Popular Mechanics Magazine (@popularmechanics) on Jan 29, 2020 at 12:14pm PST Sure, you can count them. I did, and, er, I missed a few. Or you can take one of the approaches suggested by the mathematics professors that Andrew Daniels interviewed in Popular Mechanics:“I would approach this just like one approaches any mathematical problem: reduce it and find structure,” says Sylvester Eriksson-Bique, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow with the University of California Los Angeles’s math department. Read the rest

"I'm a builder. I know how to build," said Trump when he promised a "beautiful" border wall. Welp, this is part of what he's built so far: an eyesore between Calexico, CA and Mexicali, Mexico that blew over into Mexico as soon as wind gusts hit. Trees are there to catch it, preventing it from slamming into the ground.According to The Guardian:The steel panels, more than 30ft (nine metres) high, began to lean at a sharp angle on the border between the Californian town of Calexico and Mexicali in Mexico amid gusts on Wednesday.The section of wall was under construction at the time, with concrete anchors being put in place. But the strong winds blew the panels over onto the Mexican side of the border before the concrete had cured, according to reports and photographs.The panels were being retrieved from the Mexican side and re-erected, Pitones said.“CBP [Customs and Border Protection] will work with the construction contractor to mitigate the impact of high winds as construction continues,” Pitones said.And the Internet is having fun with it:Point and laugh everyone, just point and laugh https://t.co/4SwQNMCzcr— Juan Escalante (@JuanSaaa) January 30, 2020 Since this part of the “NEW” wall fell into Mexico-does it now belong to Mexico? Perhaps they’ll make it a big gate! pic.twitter.com/flqF29LGez— cptnwillie (@cptnwillie) January 30, 2020 Very symbolic of Trump’s impeachment defense. #impeachment #TrumpWall pic.twitter.com/XLowk4mMOl— james durban (@JimmyDurban) January 30, 2020 Read the rest

Sexually abusive clergy vie with celebrities in this week’s tawdry tabloids.

Having slippery floors or vertical surfaces is rarely a good thing in the home, especially if you’re trying to lay a large rug or want to install furniture that can withstand its fair share of rowdy kids and pets.Monkey Grip: Gel Nano Grip Tape Bundle is your go-to gel pad solution that will solve all of your slippery problems, and right now it’s available for over 20% off its usual price.This super-strong and reliable 16-foot compound gel tape sticks to almost anything and is easy to apply.With a width of 1.2" and the ability to be cut to any length, this tape is perfect for any job that requires a non-slip or sticky surface in the home.The tape sticks perfectly to virtually any non-porous surface and stays there, thanks to a 0.12-inch deep core and a unique Monkey Grip gel formula that can stand the test of time.The material is also completely non-toxic, and when you’re done with it it can be easily recycled.Add a roll of Monkey Grip to your tool kit while it’s available for just $25—over 20% off its list price today. Read the rest

There's an entire set of merit badges for "adulting" [Amazon], each a handsomely-embroidered Scouting-style achievement related to the tasks we can all aspire to complete and qualities to embody. [via @codinghorror]Many are simply humorous, such as "put on pants" and "abandoned a shopping cart", but others echo a grind of life – "reduced screen time", "paid bills on time", "minded my own business" – that carries the vaguely embittered flavor of Millennials ground-down by their elders but too meek to fight back. That task shall presumably be left to the Zoomer security committees of the coming decade, which may not even have merit badges at all.These are all iron-on, obviously.There are thirty in all, but no badge for "ordered the complete set". Read the rest

A teen flying his drone on a New South Wales beach noticed what is believed to be a great white shark swimming around unwitting waders. As Sea Life Sydney Aquarium shark expert Rob Townsend points out in the news report above, one of the most interesting things about the footage is that the shark appears to be entirely disinterested in the humans. According to Townsend, this situation is a lot more common than beachgoers would like to think. Read the rest

Salvador Dalí and Walt Disney were friends. They met at a party in 1944 and soon began collaborating on a surreal annimated short together. Destino didn't get finished in their lifetimes but was ordered to completion in 1999 by Walt's nephew Roy, who discovered it in the vaults. This hour-and-twenty-minute documentary tells its story.Now, for fun, watch the Pink Floyd version of Destino:(RED)screengrab via Destino/YouTube Read the rest

I am excited for the launch of Season 4 of NASA Explorers, put together by the ISS Research Communications team which includes Boing Boing pal Rachel Barry.The ISS Research Communications team is proud to announce the premiere of the latest season of the NASA Explorers video series. Season four, called “Microgravity,” will take you behind the scenes with a team of scientists as they prepare their research for launch to the International Space Station, and follows them through the epic journey of conducting science in space. Two years in the making, the first episode of #NASAExplorers season 4 is now live!See what it takes to get science into space as we follow a team of scientists as they work to send their research to the @Space_Station.🚀Watch episode 1 now: https://t.co/vzD7sfQobo pic.twitter.com/JXIKwWUMCK— ISS Research (@ISS_Research) January 29, 2020Rachel (a former editor at Craft: magazine and a Make: contributor) is Science Communication Strategist at ISS Research and is the narrator of Season 4. The episodes last around 5-7 minutes (bite-sized space science for modern attention spans) and will be posted to YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Previous seasons have covered the Cryosphere, Apollo, and Fires. Read the rest

For five months, University of Sydney PhD student Alexandra Green spent time in the field, literally, with 18 Holstein-Friesian heifers, recording and studying their sounds. While it's been known that cow moms and calves use unique vocalizations with one another, Green confirmed that cattle "also maintain individual voices in a variety of emotional situations," from chow time to periods when they are isolated from the others in the herd. From the University of Sydney:Cows ‘talk’ to one another and retain individual identity through their lowing...The conclusion of the research is that farmers should integrate knowledge of individual cow voices into their daily farming practices.“We found that cattle vocal individuality is relatively stable across different emotionally loaded farming contexts,” Ms Green said...“We hope that through gaining knowledge of these vocalisations, farmers will be able to tune into the emotional state of their cattle, improving animal welfare,” Ms Green said."Vocal individuality of Holstein-Friesian cattle is maintained across putatively positive and negative farming contexts" (Scientific Reports via Atlas Obscura)image: Lynne Gardner/University of Sydney(Thanks to University of Sydney for inspiring the headline!) Read the rest

Former Chesapeake, Virginia mail carrier Jason Delacruz pleaded guilty to delay of mail by a postal employee. He had been caught filling a storage unit for "the sole purpose of storing mail he could not deliver," according to the court records. According to the report, Delacruz felt "pressured" and was unable to "make time" to get it all delivered. He will be sentenced next month. Apparently there were more than 5,000 pieces of undelivered mail but that number reportedly includes a whopping 4,700 advertisements. From CNN:The employee said he started hiding mail in November or December 2018 and he rented the storage unit in February 2019, according to court records. He said he put mail he was unable to deliver in the unit from that time up until he was discovered in May 2019.Delacruz told authorities he intended to deliver the mail in the storage unit, but he fell behind and was never able to, according to court documents. He said he never destroyed any mail.image: Alexander Marks (public domain) Read the rest

Anyone who owns a dog knows how difficult it can be to keep them from shedding in the home or getting filthy at the beach. The Shed Defender® Original: The World's First Onesie for Dogs will put an end to both of these woes in a way that’s both safe and comfortable for your canine friend, and you can land one right now for 15% off MSRP.This vet-approved onesie will control your dog’s shedding, reduce their anxiety, and keep them clean in the great outdoors.Made from ultra-premium and entirely eco-friendly materials that won’t irritate your dog’s coat, this lightweight onesie allows full mobility for your dog while keeping him or her from shedding excessively around the house.It’s also great for walks to the beach, woods, or any other environment that can cause your dog to become dirty or weighed down with mud or sand.Keep your canine comfortable and your house clean with this Shed Defender® Original: The World's First Onesie for Dogs—available for 15% off MSRP at just $33.99. Read the rest