'Federal disclosures filed late Tuesday reveal Amazon and Facebook each spent roughly $17 million to battle back Washington in 2019'

• Whither the in-flight emotional support miniatures horses? • “Officials highlighted a few areas where they are most eager to get comments, including whether miniatures horses should continue to qualify as service animals”Proposed new FAA rules would mean no more passengers bringing what are identified as emotional-support animals on airplanes, unless the animals are specially trained dogs that meet requirements.On Wednesday, The U.S. Department of Transportation [DOT] proposed that only specially trained dogs qualify as service animals -- which, according to the US Americans With Disabilities ACT, or ADA, have to be allowed by airlines to travel with their human in the cabin at no extra charge. Transportation Department officials told reporters today they proposed the changes to improve in-flight safety, because a lot of passengers are abusing the system. As the number of in-flight 'support animal' attacks show, some jerks really are dragging on board pets with no training. Airlines complain that the pets relieve themselves on planes and in airports, writes David Koenig for AP:The public will have 60 days to comment on the proposed changes. Officials highlighted a few areas where they are most eager to get comments, including whether miniatures horses should continue to qualify as service animals.The Transportation Department proposes a narrow definition in which a service animal could only be a dog that is trained to help a person with a physical or other disability. Passengers with a service dog would have to fill out a federal form on which they swear that the dog is trained to help them. Read the rest

Copyright rules are made with the needs of the entertainment industry in mind, designed to provide the legal framework for creators, investors, distributors, production houses, and other parts of the industry to navigate their disputes and assert their interests.A good copyright policy would be one that encouraged diverse forms of expression from diverse creators who were fairly compensated for their role in a profitable industry. But copyright has signally failed to accomplish this end, largely because of the role it plays in the monopolization of the entertainment industry (and, in the digital era, every industry where copyrighted software plays a role). Copyright's primary approach is to give creators monopolies over their works, in the hopes that they can use these as leverage in overmatched battles with corporate interests. But monopolies have a tendency to accumulate, piling up in the vaults of big companies, who use these government-backed exclusive rights to dominate the industry so that anyone hoping to enter it must first surrender their little monopolies to the hoards of the big gatekeepers.Creators get a raw deal in a concentrated marketplace, selling their work into a buyer's market. Giving them more monopolies – longer copyright terms, copyright over the "feel" of music, copyright over samples – just gives the industry more monopolies to confiscate in one-sided negotiations and add to their arsenals. Expecting more copyright to help artists beat a concentrated industry is like expecting more lunch money to help your kid defeat the bullies who beat him up on the playground every day. Read the rest

In an attempt to curb the spread of the deadly new coronavirus, Wuhan city officials are temporarily shutting down "bus, subway, ferry and long-distance passenger transport," reports NPR.The virus, which has killed 17 people and infected over 500, is thought to have originated in a Wuhan seafood market. According to The Washington Post, the now closed "1,000-stall bazaar sold not only seafood but marmots, spotted deer and venomous snakes, according to state media reports that described the market as 'filthy and messy.'”China Daily tweeted "Public #transportation such as bus, subway, ferry and long-distance bus in Wuhan will be temporarily closed since 10am Thursday. All flights and trains departed from #Wuhan will be temporarily cancelled to reduce risk of spread of the new virus, local govt says. #coronavirus"Public #transportation such as bus, subway, ferry and long-distance bus in Wuhan will be temporarily closed since 10am Thursday. All flights and trains departed from #Wuhan will be temporarily cancelled to reduce risk of spread of the new virus, local govt says. #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/gtzIlFszaf— China Daily (@ChinaDaily) January 22, 2020Wuhan is China's "fifth-largest city, and more than 3,200 square miles in size," reports Business Insider. "By comparison, New York City has 8 million people — nearly 3 million fewer than Wuhan."Two other well-know coronaviruses are MERS and SARS. From the CDC website:Two other human coronaviruses, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV have been known to frequently cause severe symptoms. MERS symptoms usually include fever, cough, and shortness of breath which often progress to pneumonia. Read the rest

The Nintendo Switch is an undeniably awesome gadget, pairing old-school gaming styles with modern-day graphics and functionality for a new generation of gamers.The only complaint people seem to have is that its controllers are somewhat lacking, which is why more and more Switch-enthusiasts are picking up this Gbros. Wireless Adapter that lets you play with your go-to, original wired controllers instead.Perfectly compatible with controllers for Gamecube, NES, SNES, and SFC, this adapter will bring a new level of familiarity to your games by allowing you to take advantage of your favorite controllers while you play your Switch.Simply connect the adapter via Bluetooth and you’ll be able to play your favorite games at a distance of up to 33 feet.This adapter supports both Switch and X-inputs with Windows, and you’ll be able to press and hold L+R+A+B+START in order to swap your button-mapping options between GameCube and Switch Pro.Start playing Nintendo Switch with your favorite controllers. This Gbros. Wireless Adapter is available for 25% off at just $14.99.Prices are subject to change.You can't beat free! Get $70+ worth of premium Mac apps for free today! Read the rest

Sounds like the clinical trials programs we use to approve drugs may have room to improve.BBC:He had diabetes, and he had signed up for a study to see if taking a “statin” – a kind of cholesterol-lowering drug – might help. So far, so normal.But soon after he began the treatment, his wife began to notice a sinister transformation. A previously reasonable man, he became explosively angry and – out of nowhere – developed a tendency for road rage. During one memorable episode, he warned his family to keep away, lest he put them in hospital.Out of fear of what might happen, Patient Five stopped driving. Even as a passenger, his outbursts often forced his wife to abandon their journeys and turn back. Afterwards, she’d leave him alone to watch TV and calm down. She became increasingly fearful for her own safety.Then one day, Patient Five had an epiphany. “He was like, ‘Wow, it really seems that these problems started when I enrolled in this study’,” says Beatrice Golomb, who leads a research group at the University of California, San Diego. Read the rest

“I think absurd is exactly the right word,” said Saudi Prince Faisal A security forensics team working on the matter of Amazon chief Jeff Bezos's hacked phone and leaked dick pics reports that without a doubt, it all started when Bezos got a video over WhatsApp from Mohammad Bin Salman. The Amazon mogul met Prince Bone Saw, who is widely believed to have ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, at a dinner in 2018. Bezos got a weird message from MBS, who he trusted, and after that video attachment, Bezos's phone started pushing out tons of data.Cory Doctorow blogged his take on the matter here earlier today. So, today, the Saudi foreign minister has of course totally denied everything. Because of course, just like they denied murdering Khashoggi.Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said on Wednesday that an allegation MBS was involved in the plot to hack the phone of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was “absurd,” reports Reuters:“I think absurd is exactly the right word,” Prince Faisal told Reuters in an interview at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos. “The idea that the crown prince would hack Jeff Bezos’ phone is absolutely silly.”Two United Nations officials will report on Wednesday that there is enough evidence suggesting that Saudi Arabia had hacked Bezos’ phone and both the kingdom and the United States should investigate, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Wednesday. Previously on Boing Boing:Forensics team accuses Prince Bone Saw of hacking Jeff Bezos's phone to obtain kompromat and force Washington Post silence on Khashoggi [Cory Doctorow]Read more at Reuters:Saudi foreign minister calls claim that Crown Prince hacked Bezos phone 'absurd' Read the rest

The first amendment is one thing, but I would not piss off an HOA.A gentleman, who may or may not have a mental illness, posted a number of very offensive signs on his condominium balcony. His HOA asked him to remove said signage and then fined him to no effect. The City of Calabasas apparently got involved, and the hateful symbology has been removed... for now.ABC7:A man who is believed to be the long-time owner of the condo was seen last week yelling and cursing at people from his balcony. No threats were made, according to the sheriff's department, but some neighbors say they feel unsafe and intimidated by the messages."I'm horrified, and I'm sad," resident Sheri Polk said. "Sad that people feel this way about Jews, about African Americans."The city of Calabasas said the material was taken down Friday, the morning after a deadline was issued for the signs' removal. The resident initially refused to remove the posters, according to Calabasas Mayor Alicia Weintraub. Read the rest

Lest you thought the "bulletproof" backpack trend wasn't heinous and exploitative enough, Wonder Hoodie is now selling a "bulletproof" hoodie.I use "scare-quotes" here because, like most "bulletproof" products on the market, this hoodie claims to rate a IIIA on the National Institute of Justice's Body Armor Performance Standards. This means that the padding is "Tested to stop .357 SIG and .44 Magnum ammunition fired from longer barrel handguns. No rifle ammunition protection."So it's not really bulletproof so much as it is bullet resistant for certain handguns. Which ain't gonna help in the occasion someone shows up with an AR-15 or similar semi-automatic rifle. Also, if we're being technical, it hasn't actually been tested and certified by the NIJ, but rather by an independent lab. But I digress.If it does make you feel comfortable about the statistically likelihood situation of a mass shooting, then by all means, spend the $800 for the adult-sized hoodie, even though you're more likely to die in a boating or a spaceship incident. (To be fair, a deliberate assault by a gun is way more likely than either of these events, though still a lower risk than death from cancer, flu, or falling.) And to make it even more worth the exploitative emotional manipulation investment, the company also offers a "Limited Lifetime Warranty." Here's what that entails:If you get shot (God forbid) with our hoodies on, we'll send you a replacement hoodie FREE of charge. Just include the police report or news clip. Read the rest

Wow, really? So soon? Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun told reporters today the company expects to return to producing the 737 MAX months before the previously forecast mid-year return to service. The planemaker said it did not plan to suspend or cut its dividend.It's not clear what if anything will change with the new design.From Reuters:The company announced a production halt in December, when the global grounding of the fast-selling 737 MAX following two deadly crashes in five months looked set to last into mid-2020.Calhoun said the company is not considering scrapping the MAX and expects it will continue to fly for a generation. He also said it will not launch a marketing campaign to get customers to get back on 737 MAX planes. He also disclosed Boeing is starting with a “clean sheet of paper” on a New Midsize Airplane but it is not clear if the company is scrapping the existing design.The company said on Tuesday it now expects regulators to approve the plane’s return to service in the middle of the year. Calhoun said he did not see recent issues raised about wiring or software as “serious problems.” READ MORE:Boeing CEO says he expects to resume 737 MAX production before mid-year [reuters.com] Read the rest

🍕 Yes, that's a 100-meter record-setting Margherita Pizza. A pizza with a purpose. Sir Eats-A-Lot (@issac_eatsalot on Instagram), captured the awesome creation of a one hundred meters long pizza pie created by Pellegrini's Italian Restaurant (@pellegrinisitalian) pizzeria in Australia. The goal of the ginormous pizza: raise money to help New South Wales firefighters who are battling the ongoing wildfire megablazes. View this post on Instagram 🚩🚩 @pellegrinisitalian 🚩🚩 🍕 100m Margherita Pizza Record 🍕 . Welcome to the neighbourhood old Pel - with a 100m continuous pizza party that is 😅 over 400kgs and 4hrs of dough, sweat and cheers went into this masterpiece that's taken weeks of planning and days of practice to achieve. Not only an impressive feat of culinary endurance - but a pizza the pie also went to Rural Fire Services with gold coin donations being accepted for a slice of pizza at the end of the cook. The HUGE team effort it took from everyone - some 5hr efforts some 5minute efforts - to shuffle the cooked dough down the table was mammoth and it couldn't have been achieved without everyone involved along the way. Restaurant opens to the public tomorrow - keen to head back for some of the best pizza and pasta Sydney's south has to offer! . @petragroup_ #pellegrinis #worldrecord #recordbreaking #pizza #continuouspizza #margherita #italian #southvillage #kirrawee #theshire #new #grandopening #charity #bushfireappeal #dough #cheese #sauce #basil #planning #huge #onehundredmetres #sydneyfood #teampixel #chewcrewmedia #pasta #tastemademedoit #foodnetwork @foodbible @foodnetwork @ladbible @complex @thrillist @foodyfetish @pizzaA post shared by Sir Eats-a-lot (@issac_eatsalot) on Jan 19, 2020 at 1:11am PST View this post on Instagram 🌟GIVEAWAY TIME🌟⁠ We are giving away a $200 voucher to spend at Pellegrini's Italian, kirrawee. Read the rest

My daughter and I have a nice little home makerspace going, but we have been storing all of our components (resistors, capacitors, solder, arduinos, raspberry pis, etc) in plastic boxes stacked into a larger box, which makes it hard to find what we need. It was time to get a cabinet, and this one is perfect, with 44 clear sliding drawers. It's only about 6-inches deep, which is a good thing because it doesn't take up a lot of room on our worktable. It's on Amazon. Read the rest

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is claiming damages of $50 million after Hillary Clinton called her a "Russian asset" in an interview, reports The Guardian.From the filing: “Clinton’s false assertions were made in a deliberate attempt to derail Tulsi’s presidential campaign. The defamatory statements have caused Tulsi to lose potential donors and potential voters who heard the defamatory statements. Tulsi has suffered significant actual damages, personally and professionally, that are estimated to exceed $50m – and continue to this day.”From the article:Gabbard’s allegations stem from an interview Clinton conducted with the Democratic strategist, author and podcaster David Plouffe in October 2019. Discussing the 2020 primary field, Clinton said of one candidate: “She is a favourite of the Russians.“They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far. And, that’s assuming Jill Stein [the Green Party nominee for president in 2016, who received favourable coverage from Russian state media] will give it up, which she might not because she’s also a Russian asset. Yeah, she’s a Russian asset.”Image by United States Congress - Office of Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Public Domain, Link Read the rest

Artist Refik Anadol, who has appeared on Boing Boing before, designs dreamy installations using artificial intelligence. Some of them he calls 'data paintings.' Anadol manipulates large collections of data and develops machine learning algorithms to create these trippy, immersive art installations. They're beautiful.The video above is a new profile of Refik Anadol's work by WIRED. If you haven't yet, go subscribe to Wired on YouTube. Good videos. You can experience Anadol's work live, right now in New York City through February 2, 2020, at Artechouse NYC.Go see Anadol's installations in person, or learn more about them online:• Machine Hallucination at Artechouse NYC (now through February 2020)• WDCH Dreams (Los Angeles, archived, performance took place in 2018)• Winds of Boston (archived)• Melting Memories (archived)PREVIOUSLY ON BOING BOING:Watch Archive Dreaming, a mind-bending immersive dive into data visualization (By Andrea James, 2018)[Thanks, Wonbo!] Read the rest

Nototo is a new note taking app that lets you build an imaginary map and populate it with plants, structures, and notes on any subject. It reminds me of a memory palace - a building full of rooms that exists in your mind into which you can store ideas for easy recall. Read the rest

The latest installment of the always-delightful McMansion Hell (previously) departs from the usual format of mercilessly skewering the tasteless custom homes of the contemporary super-rich and instead delves into their historic precedent, the 1970s-vintage "proto-McMansion," AKA the "Styled Ranch."Posts like this are a peek behind the McMansion Hell curtain, giving us a glimpse into Kate Wagner's outstanding critical eye for architecture, its meanings, and its failings. My grandparents had a not-quite-Styled-Ranch house -- smaller than these, and with better proportions -- but I instantly recognized the type of house on display here.This 5,600 square-foot house features 6 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms and can be all yours for ~$1.8 million USD. You’ll notice a lot of things about this house that are not McMansion-like: its symmetry, its lack of a complex roofline, its unified exterior claddings and window styles. However, this is why the house is interesting - it is not as much a McMansion as it is a proto-McMansion. Many McMansion features are apparent in their nascent form, for example, the competing architectural styles of Tudor (windows) and Neoclassical (portico, front door, quoins), the tacked-on mass containing the three car garage, an ostentatious pediment with elaborate columns, and extruded double bay windows. The McMansion Hell Yearbook: 1970 [Kate Wagner/McMansion Hell] Read the rest

This is the bringing-tears to my eyes type Star Wars stuff we need!Star Wars: The Clone Wars is arguably the best storytelling in the Star Wars canon universe. Read the rest

From Reddit's popular r/AmItheAsshole subreddit, in which people describe a recent action they took and ask readers to decide whether or not they behaved in an assholelike manner: a man says he saw a poster offering a $500 reward for a cat, found the cat, and returned it to claim the reward. The cat owner was surprised that the cat finder wanted the reward, and only reluctantly gave him a portion of it.AITA for asking for the $500 reward money after I returned a lost cat? from r/AmItheAssholeReddit's judgement: not an asshole.Photo by Ludemeula Fernandes on Unsplash Read the rest

The disgraceful, shady plan to sell control over the .ORG domains to a private equity fund controlled by Republican billionaires is on the ropes, with tens of thousands of people and thousands of .org registrants having signed a petition calling for a halt to the deal. This Friday, we're converging on the ICANN offices in Playa Vista to deliver that petition. I'll be there. Will you? Read the rest

Monty Python star Terry Jones, master of countless characters such as Mr. Creosote and Cardinal Biggles, director of Life of Brian , is dead at 77. The BBC reports he was suffering from dementia.Life of Brian was viewed as controversial for its comedic depiction of a young Jewish man who is born on the same day as and next door to Jesus Christ, and is subsequently mistaken for the Messiah."I think we'll get into a lot of trouble," explained Jones at the time. "I think there'll be a lot of hackles raised, but it isn't a spoof on the life of Christ, in fact. It started off as, 'Let's do a life of Christ' and we thought, 'That's a very outrageous thing to do'.He added: "So in fact, we did the life of someone who was born in the stable next to Christ and who wasn't Christ and didn't have quite such a glamorous life."Photo: BBC / Monty Python Read the rest

For when you have no fucks to give, give (these surprisingly well executed) Zero Fucks Given coins.This crazy world is filled with dumb-asses and assholes, and we believe we are greatly outnumbered by them, so we invented/created Zero Fucks Coins as a way to arm the citizens of earth with a way offend and defend themselves from these jackasses. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then handing out one of these coins is surely worth zero fucks.There are plenty of coins to choose from: "Rat's Ass" ($5.99), "Flying Fuck" ($5.99), "My Two Cents," ($5.99) and MORE!(TIWIB) Read the rest

I post the Lockpicking Lawyer so frequently I decided not to do so again until he opened something by hitting it. This he has in fact done, it turns out: a fancy $150 gun safe so unsafe I won't even name or link to it here. I will not be posting the Lockpicking Lawyer again until he opens something by looking at it sternly. Read the rest

Enjoy this excellent and perfectly viral work of video editing. Spot the one "mistake", win a cyber oreo. Read the rest

My 2019 book Radicalized has been named one of the five finalists for Canada Reads, the CBC's annual book prize -- Canada's leading national book award, alongside of the Governor General's award!My book was nominated by Akil Augustine, a beloved Canadian sportscaster and storyteller, and he'll be championing the book through the Canada Reads process between now and March, when the winner is announced!The festivities kick off tonight, Wednesday, January 22nd, when Akil, me, and the other nominees and their champions will appear for a panel discussion at Toronto's Eaton Centre Indigo Books at 7PM (free, but reserved tickets are recommended!).To celebrate this amazing news, I have two more announcements that I've been dying to make:1. The lead story from Radicalized, "Unauthorized Bread," is being adapted as a graphic novel that Firstsecond will publish in 2022; I'm working on the adaptation with the excellent Jenn Doyle, known for their Knights Errant graphic novels.2. Ars Technica has published Unauthorized Bread as a free online read as of today! Keen observers will recall that "Unauthorized Bread" is also in development for television with Topic Studios, parent company of The Intercept.Needless to say, I'm very happy about all of this! And it would be remiss for me not to add that all four of the novellas in Radicalized are eligible for this year's Hugo Award -- nominations for which have just opened -- and to add, frankly, that I really hope that if you are going to nominate one of these tales for the award, that you make it "Unauthorized Bread." Read the rest

More and more people are flocking to a wide variety of careers in IT, thanks mostly to the high pay, plentiful advancement opportunities, and an exciting atmosphere that offers new challenges every day.The only problem is that this high demand means competition can be fierce if you're entering the job market for the first time, and you need to have the right certifications on your resume if you want to land the best jobs.With brand new material that covers every element of the latest 2020 exams, the Complete 2020 CompTIA Certification Training Bundle will help you earn top-salaries as an IT pro, and it’s available for 97% off its usual price.With 14 expert-led courses, this bundle will introduce you to both the basics and more advanced elements of everything from server infrastructure to cybersecurity and beyond.These courses will give you the skills you need to ace the exams for the CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Linux+, Cloud+, and Project+ certifications—all through training that focuses on in-demand networking technologies, cyber security, and much more.There’s also instruction that will help you pass the Security+, CySA+, and PenTest+ certifications, and there are plenty of practice exam questions to ensure that there aren’t any surprises when it comes time to sit for the real thing.You'll also receive extensive training in the field of network security and maintenance—skills that are in growing demand across countless industries in both the public and private sectors.Launch or further an exciting and lucrative career in IT with help from the Complete 2020 CompTIA Certification Training Bundle. Read the rest

Remember when ambient music was Enya and the X-Files theme song, and you could get your favorite mood music from a 1-800 number, instead of streaming it straight to your phone? Remember when my mom actually listened to this on a semi-regular basis, but always skipped the X-Files song, even though it was the only one I cared for, because that show was cool? Good times.I didn't remember that the Twin Peaks theme was on here, though. I think they missed the irony of those soothing dulcet tones from northern Washington?Fuck "Tubular Bells" though. Read the rest

In the 1930s the world's best-known conservationist was an ex-trapper named Grey Owl who wrote and lectured ardently for the preservation of the Canadian wilderness. At his death, though, it was discovered that he wasn't who he'd claimed to be. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of his curious history and complicated legacy.We'll also learn how your father can be your uncle and puzzle over a duplicate record.Show notesPlease support us on Patreon! Read the rest

In this video, amateur mad scientist and maker Peter Sripol turns an unmodified leaf blower and some foam board into an R/C-controlled plane. This is part of a series of him turning drills, gaming chairs, Roombas, bottles of Coke, and R/C cars into planes. Read the rest

In Pragadavaram village in India's state of Andhra Pradesh, a man was killed by a rooster during an illegal cockfight. The birds' owners tie razors to the animals' natural spurs and fight them to the death. From the New Zealand Herald:As one of the organisers held the bird, preparing to release it into the arena, it struggled free and lashed out, inflicting a deep wound on the victim who stood nearby.Cockfights were banned by the Indian Supreme Court as part of the 1960 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act but the practice remains popular in some areas, especially as part of celebrations for Makar Sankranti, a Hindu festival day...A dozen other injuries were reported from cockfights held during the celebrations.image: detail of "Cockfight in London, c. 1808" (public domain) Read the rest

Mensa UK has invited Muhammad Haryz Nadzim, a 3-year-old Malaysian boy living in England, to join the self-described "High IQ Society." Haryz scored 142 on the Stanford-Binet intelligence test and was evaluated by an educational psychologist. From CNN:To become a member of British Mensa, an individual must "demonstrate an IQ in the top two per cent of the population," according to their website...Haryz mom, an engineer living in Durham, England, says her family knew that he was special even before Mensa. At Kumon, the after school math and reading program, he was named last September to the honor roll for advanced students in both subjects. Although she refers to him as her "mini brainbox," the little genius is a normal kid by all other standards..."He's very much your typical 3-year-old," (his mom Nur Anira) Asyikin said. "He really loves painting and reading books, really anything arts and crafts. He loves playing with Legos and Play-Doh especially ..."Mensa International aims "to identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity;to encourage research into the nature, characteristics, and uses of intelligence; andto provide a stimulating intellectual and social environment for its members."(top image: Nur Anira Asyikin/Facebook) Read the rest

Not all heroes wear capes; sometimes they wear fluffy, pink animal costumes. Outside San Jose's Further Confusion (FurCon) this weekend, a group of furries spotted a man abusing a woman in a car. So they intervened. From CNN:"We heard a woman's screams coming from inside and saw the passenger throwing full fists at whoever was driving," (FurCon DJ Robbie) Ryans told CNN. "We got up and ran towards the car, my friend pulled open the door and we both held onto the attacker. The girl driver was yelling for him to get out, as he started trying to fight us off."Four other people who were attending the convention joined in and helped grab the man, drag him out of the car, and restrain him until police arrived.Once he the felt the situation was under control, Ryans said he backed up and began filming the incident.When police arrived, they alleged that the suspect, 22-year-old Demetri Hardnett, assaulted his girlfriend in their car, according to the police report. Hardnett was arrested and booked into Santa Clara County Jail for domestic violence.pic.twitter.com/7QVA01UYO1— ROBBIE! 🏝️ (@robbiesets) January 18, 2020 Read the rest

Chinese health authorities said early Wednesday that the number of cases of a new virus has risen to 440 in China. The officially stated death toll from the so-called Wuhan coronavirus now stands at 9.And earlier today, we learned of patient number one in the United States, in Washington state. Excerpt from AP's early Wednesday report out of Beijing:Deputy Director of the National Health Commission Li Bin told reporters that the figures were current as of midnight Tuesday. All the deaths had been in Hubei province, home to Wuhan city where the first illnesses from coronavirus were reported in late December.Li said that marked an increase of 149 confirmed cases. He said Japan and South Korea had confirmed one case each and Thailand three. The U.S. and Taiwan also confirmed one case each on Tuesday.Concerned about a global outbreak similar to SARS, another coronavirus that spread from China to more than a dozen countries in 2002-2003, numerous nations have adopted screening measures for travelers from China, especially those arriving from Wuhan. Read more:Outbreak from new virus rises to 440 in China, with 9 dead [AP]More about what little is known of this new strain at CNN.Previously at Boing Boing:Coronavirus from China has made its way to the US Read the rest

Impeached phony president and utter turd of a man Donald Trump will attend a breakfast meeting on Wednesday at Davos with Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, Reuters reports.Trump is meeting with with other business leaders on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, reports Reuters.On Tuesday, Trump and Ivanka and Jared Kushner hosted a dinner with executives from 25 multinational companies and organizations.Excerpt:Attendees discussed their business relationship with the United States, with several executives, including the chief executives of Nokia and Ericsson, focusing on the rollout of next-generation 5G telecommunications networks in the United States.Among other attendees of the Tuesday dinner were various Cabinet members and White House advisers, including acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, economic adviser Larry Kudlow and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.Other scheduled attendees included SoftBank Group Corp’s chief executive, Masayoshi Son, and LVMH Moët Hennessy Chairman Bernard Arnault.Trump to break bread with Apple's Cook and other CEOs: sources [reuters.com] Read the rest

No encrypted iCloud backups for you, citizen!

The iguanas are cold-blooded, you see.

Utah Judge Kara Pettit sided with prosecutors who said “lewdness” means women’s breasts.

Going to the beach is almost always an enjoyable experience, but trekking back through your house on the way to the shower can leave a trail of sand the quickly saps the day of its sunny fun. Thankfully this BeachBox: Portable Shower & Storage unit has you covered the next time you hit the beach.As the world’s first portable shower that doubles as a storage box, this intrepid cleaning combo is packed with features like an insulated shower tank, a non-slip changing lid, and a modular storage design that’s easy to take with you on the go.You’ll be able to keep your gear dry thanks to separated storage compartments and divider slides, and the tank can hold up to 1.5 gallons of insulated hot water at once.It’s also easy to refill the BeachBox in seconds, and you’ll be able to use the shower wand in order to douse your body with fresh water before you hit the road.Wash the beach off before you get to your car or house with this BeachBox: Portable Shower & Storage unit for just $169.99—10% off retail.You can't beat free! Get $70+ worth of premium Mac apps for free today!Prices are subject to change. Read the rest

Twenty years ago today, Boing Boing became a blog. Mark Frauenfelder's first post linked to Street Tech, a now-dormant gadget blog. Now there are 160,000 more posts just like it and the impossible task of summarizing the best of them in yet another.Founded as a print zine in 1988 by Mark and Carla Sinclair, Mark's personal retrospective posted earlier today is a must-read; following are a few of our greatest hits, proudest accomplishments, clickiest traffic monsters, and best features of all time.Despite the tens of millions of words in our database – mostly wonderful things – it's oftentimes the shortest posts that get the most attention. So it was with Xeni Jardin's Ralph Lauren opens new outlet store in the Uncanny Valley, a single-sentence reblog of a now-vanished post at another site highlighting the incompetently dysmorphic photomanipulations in one of the fashion house's ads. Ralph Lauren tried to force us to remove the post, to no avail.That wasn't our first rodeo, either. In 2008, were were sued by MagicJack, makers of a VoIP dongle, after criticizing its terms of service. We stood our ground and beat them in court. Ten years later, Playboy sued us for posting about someone else's uploaded cover collection, claiming that linking to things is a form of copyright infringement. We beat them too, with the help of able friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.It's not all law and chaos, though. Mark Frauenfelder says he's most proud of his two-part series on the fortified residential mailboxes of Los Angeles, Survival of the fittest mailbox and Fortified mailboxes, part 2. Read the rest

When it comes to immediately grabbing a reader’s attention in any medium, few things are more important than picking the perfect font—regardless of whether you’re advertising your brand online or in print.The MyFonts Monotype Fresh Font Bundle offers over 50 handcrafted fonts from one of the world’s most revered typeface companies, and it’s available for over 74% off at $49.99.How you write your content is undeniably important in a world of limited attention spans, and this collection of fonts that covers a wide range of typestyles will help you expand your existing collection with incredible sans serif, serif, script, and display options.Each font has been handmade and selected by the world-renowned experts at Monotype, and it’s easy to quickly find and select the font you’re looking for based on your individual project and needs.Gain unlimited access to a growing number of unique fonts for life with the MyFonts Monotype Fresh Font Bundle—available for just $49.99.You can't beat free! Get $70+ worth of premium Mac apps for free today!Prices are subject to change. Read the rest

Today is the twentieth anniversary of Boing Boing in its current incarnation. It looked like this in 2000.Here's a brief history of Boing Boing, which actually goes back 33 years.Carla and I conceived of it as a print zine in 1987. The first issue of bOING bOING came out in 1988. We printed 100 copies on a Xerox machine. I sent a copy to Factsheet Five, which was a zine that reviewed zines. Based on the review that ran in Factsheet Five, we sold all the copies. We also got an order from a newsstand distributor for 100 copies of the next issue. So we printed 200 copies of the second issue, sending 100 to the distributor and 100 to people sending $3 cash to us in the mail. We basically followed a Moore’s law style growth curve. The final issue of bOING bOING, number 15, had a print run of 17,500. Unfortunately it was our last print issue because our two major newsstand distributors went bankrupt, owing us tens of thousands of dollars.In 1995 I was an editor at Wired and one of my friends who worked at Hotwired, the magazine's online spinoff, registered boingboing.com for us and we started running occasional articles on the website.In 2000 I wrote an article for a magazine called the Industry Standard, about web logs. To learn about how web logs worked, I got a Blogger account and started posting things on boingboing.net (I forgot to register boingboing.com Read the rest

The new Coronavirus that is spreading in China, which has infected around 300 people and has killed at least six, has just shown up in the US (as well as Japan, Thailand, Taiwan and South Korea). A man who had traveled from Wuhan, China, where the virus first appeared, came down with pneumonia last week and has just been tested positive for the virus, which is in the SARS family (SARS was the virus in 2003 that killed around 800 people).From The New York Times:The man is a resident of Snohomish County, Wash., who experienced symptoms after returning from a trip to the region around Wuhan, China, where the outbreak began. He was hospitalized with pneumonia last week, and infection with the coronavirus was confirmed on Monday afternoon.The outbreak, which began in a seafood and poultry market in Wuhan, a city of 11 million, is spreading: Patients have been identified in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, as well as Taiwan, Japan, Thailand and South Korea.Major airports in the US started screening for the virus on Friday, and the World Health Organization will decide tomorrow "whether to declare the outbreak an international public health emergency," according to NYT. ADVERTISEImage: NIAID / Flickr Read the rest

At Detroit Metropolitan Airport, police removed two passengers from a GoJet/Delta Connection flight because they apparently wouldn't turn off a mobile phone that reportedly had a WiFi network name of "Remote Detonator." From the Detroit Free Press:...Flight attendants announced that they’d be calling police if personal WiFi wasn’t turned off, (passenger Aaron) Greenberg said.It was a nerve-racking moment when an estimated 10 emergency vehicles with flashing lights surrounded the plane, he said...A flight attendant told him there was a personal WiFi called “remote detonator” that was never turned off.(Wayne County Airport Authority spokesperson Lisa) Gass could not confirm the name of the WiFi hot spot, but said both removed passengers – a 42-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man, both from Quebec – were released following the incident, pending further investigation.image: Kai Hendry/Flickr (CC BY 2.0) Read the rest

CNN has the full 4-page organizing resolution for the Trump impeachment trial that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent to the Senate on Monday.As CNN notes, the impeachment trial for President Bill Clinton gave the defense and the House prosecution committee each 24-hours — spread out over a maximum of 4 days — to make their opening statements. For the Trump trial, however, each side only gets 2 days to make their statements. But on any given day, the hearings don't begin until 1pm, and will thus drag on late into the night.After the opening statements, the Senate will have a total of 16 hours to question the House Committee or the White House Defense. Only then will the Senate vote on whether or not to subpoena witnesses or other evidence.The GOP's defense strategy becomes painfully clear in the structure set forward on those pages: make sure no one has a chance to say or reveal anything beyond what's already known by the public, then force a vote as soon as possible. Which is why I'm expecting the White House's opening statement to be a full-on Chewbacca Defense but with Bidens instead of Wookies.Impeachment resolution shortens trial's opening arguments to two days per side [Lauren Fox, Manu Raju and Jeremy Herb / CNN]Image via the White House / Flickr Read the rest

Vanity Fair just published a new excerpt from A Very Stable Genius, the new White House insider book from Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post staffers Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker. It explores the filming of the HBO documentary "The Words That Built America" at the White House, which took place shortly after the inauguration of President Donald Trump.The idea of this documentary was to unite the country by presenting the words of the country's founding documents, as read by all living presidents and vice presidents, as well as other politicians and actors. Interestingly enough, it was directed by Alexandra Pelosi, who is indeed the child of the US Speaker of the House and frequent Trump nemesis Nancy Pelosi.But according to the scene as relayed by Leonning and Rucker, Trump didn't know about or notice this familial connection:Pelosi moved in to thank Trump for participating in this special history project, but he appeared to have no idea who she was, apparently not briefed on her political lineage or her role as the director. The president asked for some water, and with no staff bringing any to him, Pelosi handed him a bottle of Aquafina from her purse. “I’ve been into the White House,” Pelosi later said of visits to see previous presidents. “There are always protocols. Here there were no rules, no protocol.” She added, “There’s so much wrong with the whole thing. I’m thinking, Isn’t there someone who’s supposed to guard what he’s eating and drinking?” Read the rest

Dik-diks are basically tiny African deer whose name comes from the chirping sounds they make. And if that's not adorable enough, then just wait until learn that they mark their territory with their tears (okay technically it's a secretion from the preobital gland but still).So here are some completely unsolicited dik-dik picks, courtesy of the UnsolicitedDiks Twitter page.pic.twitter.com/TNk5CboSs6— Unsolicited Dik-Diks (@UnsolicitedDiks) January 17, 2020pic.twitter.com/AOZuqxDI77— Unsolicited Dik-Diks (@UnsolicitedDiks) January 20, 2020pic.twitter.com/DAa3RVeBYE— Unsolicited Dik-Diks (@UnsolicitedDiks) January 13, 2020pic.twitter.com/LXLXYqq2oG— Unsolicited Dik-Diks (@UnsolicitedDiks) January 10, 2020Top image via Sharp Photography / Wikimedia Commons Read the rest

Insect populations around the world are plummeting. The latest indicator of the insect apocalypse is the sharp decline in the number of mayflies, reports National Geographic. The winged insects can form swarms of up to 80 billion and are an important source of food for fish, birds, and bats.According to a study published yesterday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, mayfly populations throughout northern Mississippi and Lake Erie have dropped by over 50%.NatGeo cites a number of possible reasons for the precipitous decline: an abundance of pesticide pollutants in freshwater systems, mayfly nymph-killing algae blooms caused from fertilizer runoff, and higher water temperatures brought on by climate change.From the article:Unfortunately, they’re not alone: Studies around the world have shown alarming declines of a wide variety of insects. A study published in the journal Biological Conservation in April suggested that 40 percent of all insect species are in decline and could die out in the coming decades. (Learn more: Why insect populations are plummeting, and why it matters.)Image by Michael Palmer - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link Read the rest

Yesterday in Kensginton, New Hampshire, Ian O’Reilly and his family were walking on a trail near a local pond when a coyote attacked his two-year-old son. After fighting with the animal for ten minutes, O'Reilly strangled it. According to police, the same coyote, likely sick, was responsible for other attacks earlier that day that apparently didn't result in injury. O'Reilly described the confrontation to Boston 25 News:“There was no interest in (the coyote) going away. [I] ultimately had to make the decision to become the aggressor and jumped on it, attacked it and [got] it to the ground," O’Reilly said. “When I was able to get on top of it, I put my hand on its snout so it wasn’t able to attack me. There was quite a bit of snow on the ground, so I shoved the face into the snow and then eventually was able [to] put my hand on its snout and expire it through suffocation. Ultimately one hand on its windpipe and one hand on its snout did the trick.”O’Reilly was apparently bitten in the arm and chest by the coyote. The child involved was also bitten, though the animal did not break the child’s skin due to the snowsuit he was wearing at the time. Since the incident, O’Reilly has already received his first round of rabies shots; he’ll have four more follow-up visits with doctors for more. Read the rest

On Good Morning America today, Ozzy Osbourne described 2019 as the "worst, longest, most painful, miserable year of my life" and revealed that he is suffering from a type of Parkinson's disease. From Gil Kaufman's report in Billboard:"It wasn't really a problem for a long while," Osbourne says of why he waited so long to share the news about a horrible fall at home that re-aggravated an old injury and sidelined him for much of 2019. But, he says, wife/manager Sharon Osbourne told her husband he seemed different after the tumble and wondered what was going on.“When I had the fall, it was pitch black. I went to the bathroom and I fell," explained Osbourne, 71, of a fall in his Los Angeles home that aggravated an old injury from a 2003 ATV accident that required surgery. "I just fell and landed like a slam on the floor and I remember lying there thinking, ‘Well, you’ve done it now,’ really calm. Sharon [called] an ambulance. After that, it was all downhill.” Read the rest

A new study argues that it's "ethically permissible" for dead men to "register their desire to donate their sperm after death for use by strangers." Dr. Nathan Hodson of the University of Leicester and Dr. Joshua Parker of Manchester's Wythenshawe Hospital conducted their research as a response to a shortage of sperm donors in the United Kingdom. From CNN:"If it is morally acceptable that individuals can donate their tissues to relieve the suffering of others in 'life-enhancing transplants' for diseases, we see no reason this cannot be extended to other forms of suffering like infertility, which may or may not also be considered a disease," the study says.The mechanics of donating, they say, are entirely feasible through either electroejaculation or surgical methods.Sperm would be cryopreserved following collection and thawed when chosen for reproduction, the authors said...The process would address the ongoing shortage of donor sperm in the UK, argue the authors, which has led to Britain importing commercially donated sperm to cope with demand from couples struggling to conceive.More: "The ethical case for non-directed postmortem sperm donation" (Journal of Medical Ethics)image: "Sperm and ovum fusing" (public domain) Read the rest

Whenever we go to Japan, we gorge on the fluffy souffle pancakes they serve in special pancake cafes there. Our favorite pancake cafe is Flipper's, but we also like Gram and Happy Pancake. We were recently in Singapore and I took a video of a stack of 3 jiggly Gram pancakes being served to Carla: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mark Frauenfelder (@frauenfelder) on Jan 4, 2020 at 10:38pm PSTWe've tried making these pancakes at home, but we can't achieve the same kind of bounciness and fluffiness. So when I saw this tweet about a guy who cooked a pancake in his rice cooker, I did a Google search for "pancake in a rice cooker" and learned that this is something people actually do and now I'm excited to try it myself.I had some trouble with cooking pancakes on the stove today so I thought of resorting to the rice cooker to cook the rest of the batter.Welp. pic.twitter.com/n9514f5EvZ— AK Lee 💕 Samoa Joe's braid (@aklee_writes) January 19, 2020Image: Flipper's Pancake by Mark Frauenfelder Read the rest