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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

Behold the turbulent seas of our sun, plasma waves rising and falling under the watchful gaze of the Inouye solar telescope in Hawaii. Science News:We have now seen the smallest details on the largest object in the solar system,” said Inouye telescope director Thomas Rimmele during a January 24 news teleconference.Covering an area 36,500 kilometers across — roughly three times the diameter of Earth — the images show familiar bubbles of plasma percolating up from the depths. In the dark lanes between the bubbles, newly resolved clusters of bright points appear at the roots of magnetic fields that stretch out into space. Read the rest

On Tuesday, January 28, 2020, the Trump Administration revealed its vision for an Israel-Palestine peace plan. The proposed two-state solution would leave the state of Palestine completely surrounded by Israel, with tunnels connecting different sections.The "deal" was brokered in part by Jared Kushner. I put "deal" in quotes because no actual Palestinian humans were included in the conversations. This, to me, seems like a poor approach to solving such a famously contentious issue. Of course, I did not have the fortune to luck into a diplomatic position by marrying to the daughter of a con artist president. So what do I know.Similarly, if you're going to leave half the people involved in the negotiations out of the negotiations, I wouldn't think it wise to go on CNN and make your disdain for them so abundantly clear, as Kushner did here:Jared Kushner, senior adviser to the President, says the White House's Middle East plan is "a great deal" and if Palestinians reject it, “they’re going to screw up another opportunity, like they’ve screwed up every other opportunity that they’ve ever had in their existence.” pic.twitter.com/ABAI3gKjig— CNN (@CNN) January 28, 2020I suppose one could argue that this is not explicitly racist. But it absolutely hints at racist notions of Arabs as inherently savage beasts who can't take care of themselves. In subsequent interviews, Kush basically made it clear that the Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory are going to keep growing and expanding anyway, so the Palestinians may as well take the deal because they're inevitably going to be pushed out anyway. Read the rest

Valentine’s Day is such a strange holiday. It seems as though we all collectively loath it, yet most of us still end up rushing to the florist and paying through the nose for a bouquet of flowers on February 14th. Perhaps we'd come to enjoy Valentine's Day a bit more if it wasn't so darn hectic to celebrate?Enter Florists.com, which takes all the hassle of out getting those flowers you're after, and it can even save you a pretty penny in the process, now that you can get $30 of credit for only $15 today as part of their Valentine's Day Special offer.Florists.com eliminates the hassle we've all come to associate Valentine's Day with by delivering gorgeous arrangements directly to your loved one's door. Plus, it’s also easy to add speciality balloons or chocolates to your order, in case you're really looking to impress this year.Once you sign up, you’ll be able to redeem your code at the Florists.com online store within 30 days of your purchase, and each order comes with a 100% smile guarantee—meaning that if your recipient isn’t completely satisfied with their gift you get a full refund.Embrace Valentine’s Day this year without all the hassle. The Florists.com Valentine's Day Special will make your life much easier for just $15. Read the rest

We have three cats. We bought this large heavy duty scratching post in December 2015 and all three cats used it countless times throughout the day. By February 2018 it was pretty thrashed so we bought a replacement. They never get tired of using it. They also like to jump onto the little platform at the top to survey the room. We bought a second one for the upstairs. Highly recommended. Read the rest

A 25-year-old Japanese woman was about to board a flight from Hong Kong to Saipan when a staff member of Hong Kong Express airlines said she would have to take a pregnancy test, reports Oddity Central. The woman had indicated on a check-in questionnaire that she was not pregnant, but the staff member didn't believe her and told her that she couldn't fly without proving she wasn't pregnant. She took the test and was found to be not pregnant.Saipan is a United States Territory and U.S. officials are concerned about birth tourism. According to U.S. law, babies born in the United States automatically become U.S. citizens.From Oddity Central:The island of Saipan has apparently become a popular destination for foreign women to give birth in, since under US law any child born on one of its territories is automatically granted American citizenship. Being admitted into the North Marian Islands commonwealth is much easier than entering the United States, so it’s not very surprising that 2018 saw more tourists giving birth on Saipan than there are residents on the island.Hong Kong Express Airways specified that Midori Nishida’s pregnancy test was meant “to help ensure US immigration laws were not being undermined”. The airline has since apologized and suspended the practice of forcing women to take pregnancy tests.[1/29/2020 6:20pm PT] An important correction from Doug Rand:Dear @Frauenfelder @BoingBoing,Today you mistakenly propagated an incendiary, uncorroborated, & easily debunked absurdity.Saipan: population 48k CDC data suggest <<<10k "birth tourists" per year across the entire US. Read the rest

Michael Bloomberg sure has a funny way of greeting a dog. Obviously he hasn't quite mastered this trick. Watch him shake this doggo's mouth before giving him a nice scratch on the head in this tweet by @chrisjollyhale:I regret to inform you that Mike Bloomberg attempted to shake a dog’s mouth. pic.twitter.com/hKsagJ4xAf— Christopher J. Hale (@chrisjollyhale) January 28, 2020 Read the rest

Darcin is a pheromone found in the urine of male mice. It's used to mark territory and signal mating availability, and was named after the character Mr. Darcy who appears in Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice. In the new issue of Nature, researchers at Columbia University report on how darcin "takes hold in the brains of female mice, giving cells in the brain's emotion center the power to assess the mouse's sexual readiness and help her select a mate."From the press release:Pheromones, such as darcin, are processed somewhat differently. They interact with a second, parallel olfactory system, which exists in animals like mice but not in people."Unlike people, mice have essentially two functional noses," said Dr. Demir. "The first nose works like ours: processing scents such as the stinky odor particles found in urine. But a second system, called the vomernasal nose, evolved specifically to perceive pheromones like darcin."For today's study, the research team, which also included Dr. Hurst, Dr. Beynon and co-senior author Adam Kepecs, PhD, of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, first exposed female mice to darcin-scented urine and monitored their behavior. Nearly all of the female mice showed an immediate attraction to darcin. Then, after about 50 minutes, some females began leaving their own urinary scent markings. They also started to sing, at ultrasonic frequencies too high for the human ear to hear. Both of these behaviors are an indicator of increased sexual drive.Image by Rama - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0 Read the rest

Automated phone spam is a growing plague for anyone with a telephone, landline or cell.The U.S. Department of Justice today announced that they're trying to get court approval to take enforcement action against various telecommunications companies for their alleged role in facilitating robocalls. As far as I can tell, this is the first time DOJ has taken *any* enforcement action against telecoms over robocalls.About time. Go read the announcement.The filing accuses certain telecoms of “facilitating robocallls across their networks,” and says the losses to robocall scam victims total up to hundreds of millions of dollars.DOJ is focusing on a set of companies that includes two groups “originating in India, and operating out of residential addresses in New York and Arizona,” said Jody Hunt, Assistant Attorney General for the department’s civil division.From CNBC's reporting:The groups were responsible for hundreds of millions of calls per month, Hunt said. The Justice Department is seeking court approval to stop the organizations from making further calls, he said. The companies include two Arizona-based companies and three Long Island, N.Y.-based companies, all of which were operated out of residential addresses in those states, according to the press conference.The Arizona defendants are TollFreeDeals.com, SIP Retail and their owner-operators, Nicholas Palumbo and Natasha Palumbo of Scottsdale. The New York defendants are Global Voicecom Inc., Global Telecommunication Services Inc., KAT Telecom Inc. and their owner-operator Jon Kahen of Great Neck, N.Y. The defendant companies and individuals could not immediately be reached for comment. Read the rest

Last month, Bonhams auctioned off these two parts from "Little Boy," the first atomic bomb that the US dropped on Japan on August 6, 1945. An unidentified buyer paid $100,000 for the red arming and green safety plugs from the bomb. From Bonhams:ONE OF ONLY THREE SURVIVING SETS OF BOMB PLUGS, THE ONLY SURVIVING RELICS OF "LITTLE BOY," THE FIRST ATOMIC BOMB DETONATED OVER HIROSHIMA..This set was given by Weapons Test Officer Jeppson to his superior Edward Doll, the day after the flight. Jeppson's own set was sold in Butterfields Auctions in 2002, now privately owned, and there is a further set in the Naval Museum Washington D.C., a set that belonged to Deak Parsons, who also flew on the Enola Gay as Senior Military Technical Observer. This last set is presumed to have been given to Parsons by Jeppson.(Thanks, Bob Pescovitz!) Read the rest

“If there are no consequences for the [UN] agencies for failures like these … there will be more breaches.”

Who cares about the Tokyo Olympics, when a 60-foot walking RX-78-2 robot is going to be stomping around nearby Yokohama in October? It will have 24 degrees of motion and will weigh 25 tons, according to New Atlas. It sounds pretty impressive, and the video above makes it seem cool, but Yoshiyuki Tomino, who created Gundam in the late 1970s, has some harsh words for the project: "It's boring. It rubs me the wrong way ... It's just not interesting ... It feels like they're going backwards, trying to reproduce a 40-year-old original."Image: YouTube Read the rest

I've often wondered what kind of blackmail has got Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, et al running so scared that they now don't even try to hide their mindless, sycophantic kneeling before King Trump. But, according to Salon, the answer is much simpler than blackmail – it's about what it's almost always about: money, or in this case, campaign contributions.Apparently, Trump's lawyers donated thousands to the GOP senate puppets. For instance, in 2017, Kenneth Starr donated $2,700 to Lindsey Graham and $2,800 to Mitch McConnell in 2019.From Salon:Starr, who lamented that "we are living in … the age of impeachment" during the trial on Monday and accused Democrats of waging a "domestic war," gave $2,800 to McConnell in July 2019, according to CFPR.Ray, who wanted to indict Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair but now claims Trump has been vindicated by the transcript of his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, contributed the maximum $5,600 to McConnell in September 2019, according to the report.The contributions came months before McConnell bragged to Fox News host Sean Hannity that he would be in "total coordination with the White House counsel's office and the people who are representing the president in the well of the Senate.""Everything I do during this, I'm coordinating with the White House counsel," he said. "There will be no difference between the president's position and our position as to how to handle this."Read more details at Salon.Image: Liz West / Flickr Read the rest

And you thought you felt full. Check out this female tsetse fly push out a larva fat with its momma's milk. From Deep Look:Mammalian moms aren’t the only ones to deliver babies and feed them milk. Tsetse flies, the insects best known for transmitting sleeping sickness, do it too.(UC Davis medical entomologist Geoff Attardo) is trying to understand in detail the unusual way in which these flies reproduce in order to find new ways to combat the disease, which has a crippling effect on a huge swath of Africa.When it’s time to give birth, a female tsetse fly takes less than a minute to push out a squiggly yellowish larva almost as big as itself...“There’s too much coming out of it to be able to fit inside,” (Attardo) recalled thinking. “The fact that they can do it eight times in their lifetime is kind of amazing to me.” Read the rest

Order says data collected ‘could be valuable to foreign entities’The United States Interior Department today introduced a no-fly rule that covers pretty much all Chinese drones, and all unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) made with Chinese parts, with some narrow exceptions. The big fear is espionage. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said he decided to issue the order after investigating the potential security risks from drones manufactured in China, or with parts made in China.“In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said his department will grant exceptions for tracking wildfires by air and for emergencies where human safety or property damage are at risk, such as search-and-rescue operations,” reports Katy Stech Ferek at the Wall Street Journal. They're making exceptions for training flights and such, also.The new policy, which will be issued in an order Wednesday, follows the temporary grounding of the department’s drone fleet last year amid rising concerns that the devices could be used for espionage. Interior officials have acknowledged that all of the department’s roughly 800 drones are made in China or with Chinese parts.(...)The department order doesn’t mention China by name but instead directs department officials to favor domestically made drones out of concerns information collected by aerial drones could be “valuable to foreign entities, organizations and governments.”Since the temporary ban was imposed last year, some Interior workers have complained that it has weakened their ability to survey erosion, monitor endangered species and inspect dams.READ MORE: Interior Department Adopts Restrictions Aimed at Chinese Drones [wsj.com] Read the rest

The Kremlin says Russian president Putin "has no view" on a proposal to change his title to "Supreme Leader," reports US News and World Report. The title is one of a number being considered by a commission formed after Putin announced his desire to change the Russian constitution. From the article:"There are... some very curious proposals among those put forward. For instance, they proposed renaming the position of head of state to 'Supreme leader'," Pavel Krasheninnikov, the government commission's co-chair, told the Rossiiskaya Gazeta government newspaper.When asked about the idea on Wednesday, the Kremlin was non-committal, calling it a "new initiative" and one of various proposals that may or may not be implemented."Right now all this is at the discussion stage," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "President Putin has no view on this."Image by Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, Link Read the rest

Knewz has a stark spot-color design (I've decided to call it Drudge Custard, but I like it!) and a completely nauseating name. It's a pure aggregator, too -- just links to other people's sites -- even though it's from the News Corp stable. “Knewz is unique in that readers can, at a single glance, see multiple sources. It is not egregious aggregation but generous aggregation. There are mastheads from across the political and regional spectrum, and premium publishers will not be relegated in the rankings,” said Robert Thomson, chief executive of News Corp.Knewz.com works by combining cutting edge, proprietary artificial intelligence with experienced editors. The technology constantly scans hundreds of real news sources, and editors curate a selection of headlines that provide a broad perspective on stories of the day. Aggregation is a fundamentally good thing. I hope it does well and helps revive the web as a good place to go to find out what's in the kn... sorry, the news. Read the rest

Amazon is dumping Parker Jotters for only $8.99 today, less than half the usual price. It's a basic, good ballpoint pen in a sleek metal casing that will last forever and is something of a cult favorite among EDC types, not least because it's "tactical" without broadcasting itself as a pointy six-inch metal stabber. It's even Bond-approved: GoldenEye saw the superspy issued a weaponized example by Q. Q-Branch supplies Bond with a Parker Jotter pen that is a C4 grenade: three clicks arms the four-second fuse, another three disarms it. A classic pen, still widely available.The ones Amazon are selling don't come with plastic explosives.Parker Jotter [Amazon] Read the rest

The Food and Drug Administration sent an official warning letter to the makers of Purell hand sanitizer, ordering them to stop making unsupported claims about the goo's ability to fend off disease.In the letter, dated January 17, FDA compliance director Nicholas F. Lyons takes aim at marketing literature which says the product helps "eliminate" MRSA, VRE and other diseases and reduces student absenteeism.These statements, made in the context of the Frequently Asked Questions section, clearly indicate your suggestion that PURELL® Healthcare Advanced Hand Sanitizers are intended for reducing or preventing disease from the Ebola virus, norovirus, and influenza. As such, the statements are evidence of your products’ intended uses. However, FDA is currently not aware of any adequate and well-controlled studies demonstrating that killing or decreasing the number of bacteria or viruses on the skin by a certain magnitude produces a corresponding clinical reduction in infection or disease caused by such bacteria or virus.Based on the above claims, PURELL® Healthcare Advanced Hand Sanitizers are drugs as defined by section 201(g)(1)(B) of the FD&C Act, 21 U.S.C. 321(g)(1)(B), because they are intended for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, and/or under section 201(g)(1)(C) of the FD&C Act, 21 U.S.C. 321(g)(1)(C), because they are intended to affect the structure or any function of the body.Therefore, knock it off:The violations cited in this letter are not intended to be an all-inclusive list of deficiencies regarding your products. Please be aware that you are responsible for investigating and determining the causes of these violations and for preventing their recurrence and the occurrence of other violations. Read the rest

Danny Takacs (homepage) wrote and directed this four-minute jumper about a woman who "discovers a sinister secret hiding in her crawlspace".The buildup's good, you know it's coming, but it gets you all the same. Read the rest

Is this video of a pug, relaxing and barking at literally everything in site, doctored? Because I'm going to be spending the morning learning to perform a perfect impression of its unusual yap for the next time Microsoft Tech Support calls.#StrangePugBarksAtEverythingInSightSo heckin ferociousPreviously, in Australia: Read the rest

The dreaded tax season is nearly upon us, and that means it’s time to start the process of gathering all of the expenses that will give you the largest deduction possible.The Quickbooks Pro Desktop Certification Bonus Bundle will help take the headaches out of this miserable processes by teaching you how to use one of the world’s most popular and powerful pieces of accounting software, and right now it’s available for any price you want to pay.With 8 courses led by a certified CPA, this bundle will walk you through everything from the fundamentals to the more advanced elements of this award-winning numbers platform.After an introduction to the basics of the interface, you’ll learn how to manage all of your income and expenses by organizing entries based on category, how to practice sound data-entry and reporting methods, how to plan for your financial future, and more.There’s also a course dedicated to teaching small business owners how to keep track of every expense, through training that walks you through spreadsheet analysis, cost monitoring, and tax preparation.Do yourself a financial favor in 2020 and land the Quickbooks Pro Desktop Certification Bonus Bundle for any price you want to pay. Read the rest

I would like to have now whatever they served in McDonaldland in 1970, which clearly involved more than beef, bread and condiments. Read the rest

Jeremy of Black Magic Craft managed to get his hands on one of the prototype 3D printed full-color(!) miniatures that Hero Forge is currently offering in their Kickstarter campaign for Hero Forge 2.0. As you can see from the video, the results are pretty impressive, as are the other miniature design and digital painting tools coming in Hero Forge 2.0. Given all of this gamery goodness, it is perhaps no surprise that Hero Forge's Kickstarter campaign has already racked up over $2 million, with 15 days still to go. Read the rest

[[Chelsea Manning's support team sends us this update on Chelsea Manning and her courageous fight against Grand Juries, which has seen her imprisoned for months, effectively in solitary, a situation that the UN Rapporteur on Torture has deemed to be a form of torture. Our hearts are with Chelsea. -Cory]]We wanted to let everyone know about the new website that just went up at ReleaseChelsea.com, where people can learn more about Chelsea Manning's current situation.Chelsea has been incarcerated for more than 9 months for her principled refusal to give testimony before a grand jury convened to investigate and prosecute journalists whose work threatens to expose government misdeeds. She is also being fined $1,000 per day for every day she refuses to testify, and has accrued over $200,000 in fines so far.Chelsea has repeatedly explained her conscientious objection to Grand Jury proceedings, citing their secrecy, their susceptibility to prosecutorial abuse, and the long history of grand jury abuse to target and harass activist communities.To be clear: Chelsea has not been charged with, let alone convicted of a crime, but she can be imprisoned for up to 18 months, until either the term of the grand jury expires, or she agrees to cooperate with their investigation. While this kind of “coercive confinement” is legal in the United States, Nils Melzer, the UN Rapporteur on Torture, recently condemned Chelsea’s confinement, explaining the ways in which such confinement is a violation of international law, and calling for her immediate release. Read the rest

The logo for Denis Villeneuve's forthcoming Dune movie series was revealed at an event in France last night. It appears the movie's producers are rushing to remove it from the 'net, as photos of the logo are disappearing from popular Dune fan accounts with copyright enforcement notices left in their wake. But they can't get everything, and it's easy to find with a search.Perhaps they know it's futile, and the aggressive enforcement is itself a publicity stunt. Dune's fandom is old and intense, and a rich thread in the cultural fabric of the internet generation thanks to the sprawling novels, the magnificent badness of the 1982 David Lynch movie, and a conversely excellent series of computer games based on Frank Herbert's lets-not-get-started-trying-to-summarize-it epic. So every element of the production receives an unusual level of attention from mainstream journalists. Read the rest

I'd met Tyler of Mushrooms For My Friends a few times socially. I knew that he made a living as a mushroom forager, working for some guy who allegedly had the market cornered on toadstool distribution in the greater Boston area and beyond. But I didn't really understand anything else about the operation, other than that, well, people pay good money for a prime piece of a fungus.Thanks to a recent New England Cable News feature, I now know that Tyler works for a man named Ben Maleson, a sextuagenarian who has spent most of his adult life in the mushroom trade. Maleson is every bit as quirky and corny as one would hope an international mushroom dealer would be, delivering up plenty of "fun guy" puns as he tells the story of how he molded this career path for himself. Spoiler: it's pure happenstance and hustle, kind of like how tasty fungus grows.Also he plays the mushroom trumpet.Maleson (understandably) plays coy on the subject of magic mushrooms — "they're all special," he says. One would assume he at least knows how to identify the fun ones, though I couldn't tell you if he keeps tabs on where they do or don't grow.Anyway, it's a short, fun look at a very odd job.Image via Pexels Read the rest

You don’t need to be a climate scientist in order to know that the Earth is in serious trouble, but the good news is that you also don’t need to necessarily make any drastic changes to your lifestyle in order to do your part to help.This nOcean Wearable Reusable Silicone Straw will help you reduce your plastic usage so you can help save the planet a few sips at a time, and it’s currently available for 20% off its usual price.This reusable, medical-grade straw reduces single-use plastic pollution and doubles as a stylish bracelet to boot.Available in three unique color combinations, the nOcean straw is made from sanitary silicone and surgical steel—meaning it's made to last even after extended periods of use without degrading.Its smooth metal tip makes for a uniquely comfortable and satisfying drinking experience, and when you’re not using it you can simply transform the straw into a sleek bracelet in order to ensure that you have your go-to straw wherever you go.Do your part for the environment while rocking a stylish bracelet that doubles as an eco-friendly straw. The nOcean Wearable Reusable Silicone Straw is available for just $15.99 today. Read the rest

In 1979, construction concluded on the Awhatukee House of the Future, a $1.2m model home in the new Phoenix suburb of Ahwatukee Village, co-built with input from Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin Associated Architects and equipped with 10 networked Motorola processors that retailed for $30,000.The Awhatukee house was ambitious in both its architecture and automation, partially buried to adapt to the Phoenix climate, and striking in its exterior (The Haunted Closet says it "looks something like the star-child offspring of a mid-century modern church and an inter-dimensional spacecraft" -- it even had a conversation pit!The systems were very impressive too, beginning with passive solar water-heating but extending to "Tuke" (short for Awhatukee), the automation system that could actuate windows, doors and blinds, and optimize temperature by analyzing energy use. Terminals in the main rooms allowed access to local messages and recipes, and could fetch banking information from your bank.Tuke used a voice synth that made it sound like Wargames's WOPR, and could recite jokes and nursery rhymes.The house was filled with CCTVs and motion sensors and had a keyless entry system controlled by a numeric keypad. No one bought the house, though. From 1980-1984, it was a $3 tourist attraction, with 250,000 visitors over the years -- it finally sold and became a private residence in 1984.The Haunted Closet has fantastic photos and backstory on the Awhatukee House, including details of its appearance on the TV show "That's Incredible."It was conceived as a "shining home of dreams", an "experimental living laboratory and testing ground", a "magnificent prism of Man's dreams" where the ideas of tomorrow are experienced today. Read the rest

Burbank librarian Sarah McKinley Oakes (previously) also nannies for a six year old whose parents are French Stewart -- from Third Rock from the Sun -- and the actor Vanessa Claire Smith. Smith and Oakes have a friendly, normal relationship, but when it comes to French Stewart, things are awesomely weird.As Oakes describes it, her relationship with French Stewart is defined by "trash talk, sarcasm, and my (probably fake) attempts to steal his money" -- with a healthy dollop of pranking.Enter Stewart's unwise admission that he is frightened of dolls ("pediophobia"). Oakes seized on this and turned it to her advantage, slowly but surely terrorizing Stewart with a series of horror-doll-themed pranks, each more fiendish than the last, each demonstrating that when it comes to comprehensive, well-planned pranks, you should not fuck with a librarian.Then I started posting pictures to his Facebook page, almost every day.I had the doll study a map showing how to get from where I live in Burbank to his house in West Hollywood.I showed the doll reading a book about haunted dolls (I work at a library, when I’m not a nanny)This doll has a bloody stump where her hand should be, making it clear that she’s written this note in her own blood, that she got by cutting off her hand.To establish that there was not just one but several dolls, I had them gather to watch French on an episode of NCIS. For a week or so, the main doll (I elected her president of the dolls) worked at breaking into his house, eventually succeeding. Read the rest