Boing Boing

The infectious groove of Hall & Oates's classic "Maneater" (1982) is driven by the absolutely killer bass line. As evidence, I present to you the "bassapella" version of "Maneater" with the drums removed from the mix. Bonus musical memory: Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs credits the "Maneater" bass pump as inspiring his band's mighty fine cover of The Supremes' "My World is Empty Without You" (1991)... Read the rest

The world just isn’t made for lefties. From baseball gloves to can openers to credit card readers with slots on the right side, the 10 percent of the planet with a dominant left hand long ago realized they’re trapped in a world crafted by the other 90 percent.Among all those indignities, there may be no more lefty a problem than when a left-handed person tries to write with an ink pen. Even with attention, the left hand perpetually slides over freshly-scrawled text over and over, leading to smudged pages, an ink-stained hand and loads of frustration.Omega feels you, lefties. They make a pen that handles everything your typical ballpoint can do...but with no ink. On top of that, they’re also putting them on sale now at up to 60 percent off the regular price.And while this tech marvel is of particular note to the lefties in your life, right-handed people can still buy an Omega as well. Because unlike the other 90 percent, lefties don’t discriminate.With the Omega 2.0 AXL Inkless Pen ($29.99; originally $41.99), you’ll quickly find you don’t need ink because that’s not what you’re writing with — you’re writing with metal. The AXL metal tip lays down a grey line made of anodized aluminum, a line that can’t be smudged or erased.And not only does the Omega never need ink, it never needs to be refilled at all...or replaced. This entirely eco-friendly lead and aluminum alloy instrument never stops working, continuing to lay down its thin metallic line for as long as your pen survives. Read the rest

It’s not an exaggeration to place Singer and the Singer sewing machine among the most recognized heritage brand names and products in American business history. Back in the 1850s, entrepreneur Isaac Merritt Singer seized on a way to build the first practical sewing machine for use in the home — and to say American housewives were ready for a way to vastly speed up and improve how clothes, blankets, bedding, and other fabrics were created and mended is an understatement.Within a decade, Singer became a name synonymous with sewing — and almost 200 years later, the company is still a worldwide leader in sewing machines and sewing technology.Right now, Singer is opening up its stockroom, offering up six different refurbished models of their signature creations for over 60 percent off their retail price.Get sewingIn case you thought a machine was too bulky for your home or too pricey, Singer has a handful of their best, most compact, like-new models on sale at more than half off. The Singer Start ($59.99; originally $119.99) has six basic stitches to choose from; and with an easy four-step process for adding simple buttonhole on items like pillows or clothing, it’s one of the best options for a young sewer. And at over 60 percent off, the Singer Fashion Mate ($69.99; originally $179.99) is the biggest money saver in the bunch. Between 32 different stitch options with a handy selection dial to bounce through all those sewing options with ease, its $110 savings off the regular price should help land it at the top of many user wish lists. Read the rest

There are as many methods for creating on the web as there are creators to build them. But no matter what programming language or venue is a coder’s particular arena of choice, it never hurts to have the cross-disciplinary skills to try other avenues if needed that may better serve your app or web experience.That’s easier said than done, of course...and requires some extra study hours. To help, we put together 10 current deals on coding packages that can get you up to speed on virtually all the most popular programming languages.The 2020 Premium Learn To Code Certification Bundle - $39 (Originally $2,300)Consider this your introductory sampler to the entire coding universe. With over 10 courses, you’ll get a full tour of how many of the most popular disciplines work, including Java, JavaScript, Python, Ruby and more. There’s also an exploration of data science and machine learning, two of the most explosive growth sectors in computer programming today.ReactJS Programming Bootcamp - $39 (Originally $458)Across eight courses and 44 hours of training, you’ll get up-close and personal with ReactJS, the popular Java library of pre-built elements that make your websites and apps more responsive and appealing to your users. You’ll not only see how ReactJS can be integrated into your builds, but you’ll also explore how some of the biggest tech companies employ its benefits, including Facebook and Instagram.The Complete Ruby on Rails Super Bundle - $39 (Originally $3,000)Ask experienced developers which coding language and framework is the best for getting newbies going, and many will tell you Ruby on Rails. Read the rest

I first read "Drugs Without the Hot Air," David Nutt's astoundingly good book about drug policy back in 2012; in the eight years since, hardly a month has gone by without my thinking about it. Now, there's a new, updated edition, extensively revised, and it's an absolute must-read.

Hellboy creator Mike Mignola talks about his 35-year career, his concept design work on Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and winning an Eisner Award in this interview on Inverse.Image: Hellboy cover inset Read the rest

How many times have you struggled to order street food or get public transportation directions while traveling abroad? Even after vowing you'd learn enough of a language to get through your next trip easily, you pretty much did nothing about it. But there's a recently popular method that will help you learn a language with less difficulty and less time, known as Reading-While-Listening or RwL, and that's what Beelinguapp's platform is based on.Various studies have shown the benefits of RwL, and Beelinguapp is not afraid to use it. This mobile language-learning app utilizes an audiobook approach combined with karaoke-style animation to provide an immersive experience. Original audio is recorded by a native language speaker to help you hear how the words are pronounced as you read them and see how they're spelled and put together in sentences. It shows the same exact text in two languages, side by side, while it reads out loud to you. Offering 13+ languages, such as Spanish, English, German, Korean, and French, Beelinguapp lets you choose from fairy tales, news, science papers, and novels to learn from, with new content being added every single week. With 4.7 stars in the Google Play Store and 4.6 in Apple's App Store, Beelinguapp must be doing something right! Give it a try and you just might have your best vacation yet.A Beelinguapp Language Learning App Lifetime Subscription is available now for $39.99, a savings of 60%. Read the rest

Testimonials as to the health and wellness benefits of CBD continue to roll in. Whether it's combating inflammation and pain relief for those battling arthritis, nerve pain, MS, or just general stress and anxiety management, many say that CBD supplements have provided them with a better quality of life.So far, the FDA and serious medical trials have barely begun in the effort to back up those claims with hard science. However, the anecdotal results have been all the fuel needed to launch a galaxy of CBD-infused products to help with everyday aches and pains as well as deeper physical and psychological conditions.It’s an exploding field — so check out 20 different CBD products that may help improve your daily life or that of a loved one, all at discounts up to 58 percent off.OilsCBD oils are extracted from the flowers of the hemp plant — and while they carry none of the hallucinogenic or addictive properties of another major marijuana component THC, they are often acknowledged as the most potent form of CBD, depending on the dosage.Doses of Medix 100mg CBD Oil ($21.99; originally $26.99) are infused with premium CBD-rich non-flavored hemp oil; while doses of FREEZE 350mg CBD Topical Oil ($31.99; originally $40) utilize menthol-rich plant extracts like peppermint and camphor to provide an intense cooling and soothing sensation for the most irritating aches and pains.TincturesWhile oils are direct extracts, tinctures combine those properties with vegetable glycerin, cinnamon oils, or even alcohol. While less potent, tinctures are often easier to mix with food and digest than the more bitter oils. Read the rest

The images from this local news report from WGRZ in Hamburg, NY are crazy. Houses completely encased in ice, some of it up to three feet thick.Cold temperatures, gale-force winds, and 18-foot waves from Lake Erie created an ice spectacle at Hoover Beach in Hamburg.Homeowners on South shore Drive woke to the ice completely covering their doors and windows. In some cases, their homes were dark because of how thick the ice was.Ed Mis, resident and homeowner in Hoover Beach, says he's never seen conditions this bad before. The front of his home is completely covered in ice that is likely one to three feet thick."I actually had to go out a secondary door and then chisel my way back into the house by breaking the ice," he told 2 On Your Side's Karys Belger.[H/t Robin Moore]Ed Mis tells me this is what his house looked like when he woke up this morning. He says some of the ice has completely frozen over the top of his neighbor’s house and he’s worried about what will happen when it all melts. ⁦@WGRZ⁩ pic.twitter.com/XVrEomdslq— Karys Belger (@KarysBelger) February 28, 2020Image: Screengrab Read the rest

If you love tech gear, it can be difficult to live the green consumer life you want to be living. How can you fuel your desire to upgrade without contributing to the negative environmental impact the endless production of electronics causes? Shop refurbished.You might think, "Meh, I'll pass on a used, busted up computer." But lots of refurbs today are trustworthy. Take, for instance, this Mac Pro. It's an Apple computer boasting a 3.7GHz quad-core Xeon E5 processor with 16GB RAM and a 512GB solid-state drive that costs 60% less than a new one—and it's certified refurbished. That means it was tested, inspected, and certified to look and work like new, including all relevant accessories. It might ship in plain bulk packaging, but that's not a bad tradeoff.This Mac workstation made for pros in 2013 offers not only a sleek-as-heck design but also the most advanced technologies available around a unified thermal core, making it the most powerful and expandable Mac ever. It's got all sorts of ports for external connection, like Thunderbolt, HDMI, UltraHD, USB 3.0, and dual gigabit Ethernet, keeping it compact and quiet without losing any of its support for power-intensive apps. There's also Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and the pre-installed macOS X (10.9.1 Mavericks).Picking up one of these Mac Pros instead of buying brand new contributes to reducing electronic waste and demand for new devices. Sure, it's not exactly instant gratification, but when it comes to reducing your carbon footprint, not much is. Read the rest

Whether you own or rent your place, insurance on that home is a necessary hassle - but a new tech-driven company called Lemonade is starting to show that while it might indeed be a necessity, it doesn't have to be a hassle.Here's the way insurance typically works: You pay premiums and hope an accident never happens. If it does, you enter the purgatory of red tape, trying to pry restitution from a company that has little motivation or ability to pay out your claim.Lemonade doesn't work that way. Instead, it utilizes a well-built technology platform and intuitive AI to make signup a breeze. If anything, the process of paying out claims is even easier: You answer a few questions, outline your lost or damaged property through video chat, and get satisfaction almost instantly. Lemonade takes a flat fee from your premiums, so there's no motivation for them to stonewall you when it comes time to file a claim. At the end of each year, they'll even turn a portion of the unclaimed money from those premiums to the charity of your choice.Another great thing about their flat fees? They're super cheap, thanks to Lemonade's low overhead. Fees start at $25 for homeowners' insurance and $5 for renters. Get a quick quote and sign up today. Read the rest

Since the 60s Genesis P-Orridge has been one of the masterminds behind artist collective COUM Transmissions and seminal music acts Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV. Beyond that, P-Orridge has had an astonishing career in the visual arts, founding an artist collective called Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth, as well as helming the infamous pandrogeny project in, which P-Orridge and deceased partner Lady Jaye went through ongoing plastic surgery sessions to resemble each other in an attempt to, as New York's Rubin Museum's catalogue once put it, "break down the limitations of biological sex and express their unconditional love for each other." As of 2017, Genesis has been having an ongoing battle with cancer. Here's our interview with Genesis, conducted earlier this year.Do you think something happens to our consciousness when we die?We think about that a lot. But we've also spent much of my life as an existentialist. We had the, is it good or misfortune to have read La Nausée by John Paul Sartre when we were about 12. And needless to say, it totally altered the way I saw all the information I'd been given by the Church of England and the status quo. And it made me basically an existentialist. There's just "we're here, we die, there's nothing," you know? But then we also had these psychic experiences and saw certain things that made me still not 100% sure of that either.We used to say we were a romantic existentialist because we've always had this strong belief in Big Love. Read the rest

“Say hello to Meeko,” says IMGURian @Lifeisfull12.“Yeah. He's got jammies...”“Meeko is my friend's domesticated trash panda. He has raised him from a cub. Meeko is the best.”Gentle reminder: Wildlife belong in the wild, not at home. Please do not do this at home.Say hello to Meeko Read the rest

Recession fears are spreading, along with COVID-19. The coronavirus outbreak and unknowns about preparedness caused massive financial losses this week.The Dow closed down 350+ points.The S&P 500 dropped for the seventh day in a row, and posted its biggest drop in a single week since the 2008 financial crisis.More from Reuters:The S&P 500 fell for the seventh straight day on Friday and the benchmark index suffered its biggest weekly drop since the 2008 global financial crisis on growing fears the fast-spreading coronavirus could lead to a recession, although stocks cut losses at the end of the day’s session.The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 356.88 points, or 1.39%, to 25,409.76, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 24.7 points, or 0.83%, to 2,954.06 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 0.89 points, or 0.01%, to 8,567.37. Read more:S&P 500 drops for seventh day, posts biggest weekly fall since 2008 crisis Read the rest

“CoronaCoin” exists. Some cryptocurrency developers on 4Chan cooked up a digital coin that allows traders to bet on the global coronavirus outbreak, based on how many people become infected and/or die. Here's the Reddit post that kicked it off."We developed the world's first blockchain that tracks the spread of the virus based on it's [sic] token supply. The token supply started at 7.6 billion and is burned every two days to keep up with official WHO statistics," said Sunny Kemp, an admin for CoronaCoin's Telegram group.“CoronaCoin” supply diminishes every 2 days based on the rate of new COVID-19 cases, says its website. The price goes higher the more people die, writes Anna Irrera at Reuters:Total supply for the CoronaCoin is based on the world population, and tokens will be burnt once every 48 hours based on the number of those that have been infected or have died, according to its website.“Some people speculate a large portion of the supply will be burned due to the spread of the virus, so they invest,” Sunny Kemp, a user who identified himself as one of the developers, said in a chat on messaging app Telegram.Kemp said the team comprised seven developers with more coming on board. He declined to identify others, but said they were located mostly in Europe. More at Reuters:CoronaCoin: crypto developers seize on coronavirus for new, morbid token Read the rest

Google employee in Switzerland has confirmed case of coronavirus

Bad news: Your brain reaches its peak performance sometime before you turn 26, and it's all downhill from there. Good news: At any age, training with brain exercises has big-time benefits. Better news? The Ultimate Memory Mastery Bundle hooks you up with 20 hours of proven psychology and neuroscience techniques to boost your brain and improve memory.Not impressed? Know this: Improving your memory can improve multiple aspects of your life, both right now and into your senior years. Having a good memory will help you...improve focus, decrease laziness, and free up brainpowerpass down information that can only be found inside your headmaintain or increase creativityboost meaningful learningnetwork like a champ, thanks to all those names and details you recallgain authority on the topics of your choosinglead presentations at work or give a toast at your BFF's weddingchange a tire in the middle of a road with no cell servicemake your brain more quick and agileWith the Ultimate Memory Mastery Bundle, you'll get 7 courses teaching simple yet powerful techniques to strengthen your memory, effortlessly recall information, and reduce the amount of time it takes to memorize something. You'll find actionable, easy-to-apply concepts and activities that can be used immediately—methods that are tested and used by memory experts, including basic mnemonic systems.Including 7 hours of content from the psychologist who founded the Brain Academy, you'll learn dual brain theory, brain systems and neurochemicals, the psychology of memory, the history of memory training, and the memory formation process. Read the rest

Darwin award starter kitWhy would someone need an extension cord like this?Image: IMGUR Read the rest

In balmy Calgary, two Weinermobiles are for sale. It's not clear if the $12,000 asking price is for both hot dog shaped cars, or the price per. One things is certain -- THE PEANUT IS NOT FOR SALE ! STOP ASKING.Image: Kijiji Read the rest

A Google employee who "had been in the Zurich office for a limited time" has been diagnosed with coronavirus. “We can confirm that one employee from our Zurich office has been diagnosed with the coronavirus. They were in the Zurich office for a limited time, before they had any symptoms. We have taken — and will continue to take — all necessary precautionary measures, following the advice of public health officials, as we prioritize everyone’s health and safety,” a spokesperson for Google told CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa.According to 9to5Google, Google has already banned employee travel to China, Iran and parts of Italy, and is planning to ban employees from traveling to Japan and South Korea, starting next week. They have also posted signs at their bay area offices "reminding people to wash their hands and cover their mouths." Google hasn't released the identity of the infected employee.This was first reported by Business Insider:A Google employee has tested positive for the coronavirus https://t.co/AEp7Mm484v— Business Insider (@businessinsider) February 28, 2020 Image: Nicolas Nova / Flickr Read the rest

Disney World's Jungle Cruise ride isn't so dull after all. Yesterday, passengers got the ride of a lifetime when their boat began to sink. Some people got soaked up to their waists while staff called the park's Reedy Creek Fire Department. Fortunately the adventurers all made it back onto land as park members helped them climb to safety. They don't call it Adventureland for nothing.Disney World Jungle Cruise Boat Sinks with Passengers on Board pic.twitter.com/eFMx4KygZW— D-ROC (@DJDROC) February 28, 2020 Jeez! You’d think they hit an iceberg #JungleCruise #Disney https://t.co/m3PqTlftfp— Char, The Irish Pirate (@Yo_Ho_Yo_HoLife) February 28, 2020 Via NBC Read the rest

In this absolutely fascinating segment on a 1970 episode of The Dick Cavett Show, two members of the Women's Liberation Movement, Susan Brownmiller and Sally Kempton, argue with Playboy founder Hugh Hefner about the depiction of women in his magazine. After Brownmiller and Kempton present their argument, Hef says, "I'm more in sympathy then perhaps the girls realize," in one of his many cringeworthy self-owns on the episode.Image: YouTube Read the rest

According to Wikipedia, the first electrical motor was a homopolar motor. "Its operation was demonstrated by Michael Faraday in 1821 at the Royal Institution in London." I have to admit I'm with Insane Clown Posse on how they work, but you can easily make one at home with a few simple parts, as shown in this video by DaveHax. Read the rest

I've been using iTunes Match since the service launched in 2011, and it's been nothing but great until now. At the time, I had a personal laptop and a work computer, along with an iPhone that maybe held 16 gigs. The fact that I could just upload my extensive music library up to Apple's servers and stream or download any of my songs onto any of those devices at any time was a game changer. I'm one of those people who still likes to buy music whenever possible (maybe it's karmic, and I'm hoping someone buys my music some time, too), so I've continued to use the service, downloading my preferred albums at any given to listen to on-the-go instead of dipping into my data plan.Honestly, the only quirk I discovered with the service was a blessing in disguise. iTunes Match will upload any of your music, but if matches something that already exists in their library, they'll let you download the corresponding high-resolution audio files. I had a lot of shitty CD-rips from high school that were suddenly returned to their high-quality glory, and freed of those obnoxious data squelches on the high end.That is, until the other day. When I had a hankering to listen to "I Don't Want To Be An Asshole Anymore" by the Menzingers. 'Cause it's great song!Except it wasn't there. In fact, the entire album was missing from my library. I own the entire Menzingers discography — purchased music! — and Rented World was now completely gone. Read the rest

Throw out some random words and Los Angeles-based Harry Mack will instantly spit them out in an amazing rap that is custom-made for each audience. For someone who can't even remember her name under pressure, this kind of improv is mind-blowing. Read the rest

ICE has done facial recognition searches on millions of photos Maryland drivers without court approval. They appear to be targeting immigrants who sought driver’s licenses after 2013.The access sought by Maryland state officials “goes far beyond what other states allow and that alarms immigration activists in a state that grants special driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants,” report Drew Harwell and Erin Cox at the Washington Post:More than 275,000 such licenses have been issued statewide since 2013, when the state became the first on the East Coast to defy federal guidelines and allow undocumented immigrants to obtain a license without having to provide proof of legal status. The technology now under scrutiny could let an ICE official run a photograph of an unknown person through the system and see if any potentially undocumented immigrants are returned as a match.“It’s a betrayal of immigrants’ trust for the [state] to turn around and let ICE run warrantless searches on their faces,” said Harrison Rudolph, a senior associate at Georgetown University Law School’s Center on Privacy and Technology. “It’s a bait-and-switch. … ICE is using biometric information in the shadows, without government notice or public approval, to hunt down the most vulnerable people.” Read more:ICE has run facial-recognition searches on millions of Maryland drivers[washington post via techmeme.com] Read the rest

Admit it...even having a pocket knife within reach at a moment’s notice makes you feel a little like James Bond, right? Like, if you run up against a locked vault or a sinister superweapon, all you’d need are a couple of hand-held tools to diffuse the whole situation and save the world.Look, we don’t recommend trying to disable a bomb with any of the 10 cool pocket knives and multi-tool gadgets in this assortment, but they do offer some peace of mind in a jam.B-2 Dog Tag: Fully Concealed Nano Blade Pocket Knife - $34.99; originally $69Is there a more badass a feeling than knowing you’ve got a blade hanging around your neck? This Kickstarter-funded survivalist dream is a military-style lightweight dog tag with its own key-sized blade. The 1-inch blade can even be removed and re-inserted to create its own blade and handle set-up for added versatility.Pocket Samurai Keychain Knife - $17.99; originally $19.99A pocket knife with a decidedly Japanese feel, the Pocket Samurai folds together the popular higonokami knife style into this portable package. With a razor-sharp tanto style blade, pocket clip and keychain loop, it’s super handy.TriTac Tactical EDC Penknife - $41.99; originally $69.99They say the pen is mightier than the sword, but what if you could have both? This stainless steel blade and tungsten carbide window punch can handle all your on-the-spot cutting, all while housed in the body of a pen that can write in any conditions, even on wet paper. Read the rest

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD IT'S REALhttps://t.co/MyCPm4AHi1 pic.twitter.com/kZ5t072nX3— Katie Mummah (@nuclearkatie) February 27, 2020Nuclear semiotics is the discipline of communicating the nature of radioactive waste to people who don't know what it is. How do we tell our distant descendants -- people 10,000 years from now -- to stay away from it? The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico studies the proposals, which include scary earthworks but also a disarming message (below) originally devised by Sandia Labs. These immortal words have been immanentized by Nuclear engineer and PhD student Katie Mummah as a "Live Laugh Love"-style sign.This place is a message... and part of a system of messages... pay attention to it!Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture.This place is not a place of honor... no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here... nothing valued is here.What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger.The danger is in a particular location... it increases towards a center... the center of danger is here... of a particular size and shape, and below us.The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours.The danger is to the body, and it can kill.The form of the danger is an emanation of energy.The danger is unleashed only if you substantially disturb this place physically. This place is best shunned and left uninhabited. Read the rest

Simon Stålenhag's (previously at Boing Boing) unnerving blend of social realism, misty landscapes and alien technology is coming to TV in the form of a series based on Tales from the Loop. [via The Verge] Read the rest

A Sydney veterinarian pulled an entire beach towel from the snake that ate it. The snake, Monty Python, an 18-year-old carpet python, is recovering; no word on the towel."A flexible endoscope was placed down Monty's gastrointestinal tract, which allowed us to visualise the end of the towel sitting in her stomach," Small Animal Specialist Hospital posted to Instagram. "With assistance from our internal medicine team, very long forceps were placed through the endoscope and used to grasp the towel." Read the rest

At least some things in the world are still adorable. From RTÉ:The Kelly's have four boys who are just one day shy of their fifth birthday.Now they have been gifted an early birthday present of quad lambs.Quadruplet brothers in Co Offaly have met recent arrivals on their family farm - a set of lamb quads pic.twitter.com/6kLQG0rNJL— RTÉ News (@rtenews) February 27, 2020Honestly the whole video is worth it just for the lambs running off at the end.Quads on the double for Offaly farming family [Teresa Mannion / RTÉ]Image: Public Domain via PxHere Read the rest

Uri Tuchman explains how to make a very tiny but realistic-looking mattress from a block of maple. "Don't ask any questions," says Uri. "We are going to carve a mattress, out of this." It's the perfect introduction to his channel, where he makes small, beautiful items with hand tools, many of which he made himself. Read the rest

Police in Grass Valley, California, released bodycam footage showing an officer pulling a man from a burning building. In the video, emergency services arrive to find the blaze well-underway and are unable to enter the house due to the choking fumes. Officers dither for lack of options until one, named as Jonathan Brown, heads off to check for a back door. He finds it, boots it in, then spots a man unconscious on the ground. Brown grabs the man's feet, hauls him out of the house and summons medics from a waiting ambulance. The victim had third-degree burns and burned lungs, and is recovering in stable condition at UC Davis Medical Center, according to Grass Valley Police Chief Alex Gammelgard. Read the rest

The Trump administration is reportedly considering the possibility of re-implementing the Defense Production Act. Originally enacted during the Korean War, the Act essentially empowers the President to control the means of production—the idea being that it would be in the interest of the nation's defense to force private manufacturers to focus their production efforts on things that would benefit the country in a time of tenuous resources.From Reuters:A White House official confirmed that the administration was exploring the use of the law to spur manufacturing of protective gear. Both the DHS official and the White House requested anonymity to discuss the issue.“Let’s say ‘Company A’ makes a multitude of respiratory masks but they spend 80% of their assembly lines on masks that painters wear and only 20% on the N95,” the White House official said. “We will have the ability to tell corporations, ‘No, you change your production line so it is now 80% of the N95 masks and 20% of the other.’”“It allows you to basically direct things happening that need to get done,” the official added.In other words, it's precisely the kind of government-controlled economic planning that Republicans have warned would happen under a Democratic-Socialist administration. Except in this case, it's good. Because they're the ones doing it.U.S. mulls using sweeping powers to ramp up production of coronavirus protective gear [Ted Hesson and Alexandra Alper / Reuters]Image: Public domain via PxHere Read the rest

There's no shortage of CRMs out there for large corporations, e-commerce companies, and booming startups to utilize. Think Salesforce, for example. But if you're running a small business of ten employees max, there's no way it makes sense to invest in an expensive, robust option like that. You're better off using your old system of spreadsheets, emails, and Post-its.Or instead, you can turn to a solution like Daylite. Not only is the pricing structure more small business-friendly, but it's actually designed for small teams, especially those just starting out. Use PCs and Android? It's probably not for you. Daylite is a native solution for Mac and iOS only. It's designed for companies that work with clients, like law firms, consulting firms, financial firms, and real estate brokers, but not for traditional e-commerce companies.At its core, Daylite is a CRM, meaning it organizes all the client details and communications, deals, leads, and information that make your business run. It keeps all of the above organized, and incorporates project management tools to keep you on track. You can set automated reminders, delegate tasks, and link your calendar so that you never let anything fall through the cracks. And most importantly, it can be used by your entire team, so everyone has access to all of the information from anywhere (with permission controls to help you determine who's allowed to have access, of course.)It's worth saying that Daylite is more focused on efficiency and project management than your average CRM. Read the rest

If you're curious about what rapist Harvey Weinstein did in the days before before being locked up, this segment of Inside Edition has the details. They say he spent time with his two young children and saw a movie. He didn't spend time with his adult children from an earlier marriage. The last time he saw one of his daughters was in 2017 when he went to her house. She ended up calling 911 and told the operator that her father was suicidal.According to the segment, Weinstein, who was supposed to go to Rikers Island is still at Bellevue Hospital. His publicist (can you believe he still has one?) told Inside Edition that his rapey client is in a "prison cell that's set up like a hospital, and right outside he has guards watching his door, and every place he goes he's on 24-hour watch. In fact everything he does, even the restroom and the walls are all clear plastic or glass so that people can monitor him 24/7." Read the rest

“Complaints of bees flying out of an apartment’s duct work led to a frightening discovery Monday in Virginia: An 8-foot-long hive was in the living room ceiling, including 100 pounds of raw honey.” A pest control company in Richmond, Virginia claims to haves removed an 8-foot-long beehive from someone’s apartment.From the AP roundup of local news coverage in Virginia:Virginia Wildlife Management and Control said in a statement that they removed the hive from the ceiling of a living room in Richmond on Monday. The space was in between tenants at the time.The company said the hive produced about 80 to 100 pounds of honey, although only about 15 to 20 pounds was able to be salvaged. Rich Perry, owner of the wildlife control company, told The Charlotte Observer that the hive was big enough to support 100,000 to 150,000 bees. But he said it wasn’t fully occupiedPerry said it was extremely unusual to find such a large hive inside a building. He said the hive of Italian bees was likely to be at least 2 years old. He said the bees probably got in through holes in the siding and found a home between rafters and sheet rock. The company has a no-kill policy on bees, but they weren't able to find the queen, so the hive wasn't saved. Very sad.Here's the original story in the Charlotte Observer:• ‘Humongous’ bee hive in Virginia home’s living room ceiling held 100 pounds of honey[PHOTOS courtesy Virginia Wildlife Management and Control] Read the rest

Amazon.com has banned the sale of over a million products in the last few weeks for inaccurate coronavirus health claims, the company told Reuters on Thursday.The struggle is real. If you search for "Purell" or "N95 mask" on Amazon in the USA today, the supplies are gone, or the offers are ridiculously higher than normal.Excerpt:Amazon also removed tens of thousands of deals from merchants that it said attempted to price-gouge customers. The world’s largest online retailer has faced scrutiny over the health-related offers on its platform, and earlier this week Italy launched a probe into surging prices around the internet for sanitizing gels and hygiene masks while it battled the biggest outbreak in Europe. (...) One offer comparison site showed recent examples of higher-than-usual prices for masks on Amazon made by U.S. industrial conglomerate 3M Co.A merchant Thursday offered a 10-pack of N95 masks for $128, a Reuters reporter saw when clicking through the buying options on Amazon. That was up from a recent seller average price of $41.24, according to the tracking website camelcamelcamel.com. The item was no longer available in a check later in the day.A two-pack respirator was offered new at $24.99 earlier this week by a third-party seller, up from a recent average of $6.65 when sold by Amazon, the price-following site showed.“There is no place for price gouging on Amazon,” a spokeswoman said in a statement, citing the company’s policy that product information must be accurate and that Amazon can take down offers that hurt customer trust, including when pricing “is significantly higher than recent prices offered on or off Amazon.” Read the rest

AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon are among the telecommunications carriers facing hundreds of millions of dollars in fines from the Federal Communications Commission after a federal investigation found the companies didn't do enough to protect the location data of users. The telecoms are expected to fight the FCC's decision.From reporting by Drew FitzGerald and Sarah Krouse at the Wall Street Journal:The Federal Communications Commission is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in fines from the country’s top cellphone carriers after officials found the companies failed to safeguard information about customers’ real-time locations, according to people familiar with the matter.The telecom regulator in recent weeks informed AT&T Inc., Sprint Corp., T-Mobile US Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. of pending notices of apparent liability, the people said. Read more at the WSJ: FCC Probe Finds Mobile Carriers Didn’t Safeguard Customer Location Data [via techmeme]Drip, drip, drip...In January the carriers were found to be illegally disclosing customers' location data to 3rd party. Now, they weren't safeguarding the location data to begin with. Oops, it's only the real time location of millions of subscribers. https://t.co/TCnYomb06D— Ramsey McGrory (@RamseyMcGrory) February 27, 2020WSJ: FCC Probe Finds Mobile Carriers Didn’t Safeguard Customer Location Data"the companies can still argue they aren’t liable or should pay less. It would ultimately fall on the U.S. Justice Department to collect any penalties."https://t.co/ZLkcZB2Ixm— Hamza Shaban (@hshaban) February 27, 2020AT&T and T-Mobile are among the companies facing hundreds of millions of dollars in fines after FCC probe finds that carriers didn’t do enough to protect location data, though the carriers will likely fight decision https://t.co/mNQL4Rutsk Read the rest

BuzzFeed News reporters have seen leaked Clearview AI documents that show the company is “working with more than 2,200 law enforcement agencies, companies, and individuals around the world,” including Best Buy, Walmart, Macy's, ICE, DOJ, and the FBI, plus “a sovereign wealth fund in the United Arab Emirates.”Wow.Clearview AI is the facial recognition startup run by a right-wing internet personality that is reported to have a database of billions of photos scraped from social media and the internet.Just a few hours ago, Clearview reported that its entire client list has been stolen.From reporting by Ryan Mac, Caroline Haskins, and Logan McDonald at Buzzfeed News:The startup, Clearview AI, is facing legal threats from Facebook, Google, and Twitter, as well as calls for regulation and scrutiny in the US. But new documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News reveal that it has already shared or sold its technology to thousands of organizations around the world.In its quest to create a global biometric identification system to span both public and private sectors, Clearview has signed paid contracts with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, and Macy’s, according to the document obtained by BuzzFeed News. The company has credentialed users at the FBI, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Interpol, and hundreds of local police departments. In doing so, Clearview has taken a flood-the-zone approach to seeking out new clients, providing access not just to organizations, but to individuals within those organizations — sometimes with little or no oversight or awareness from their own management. Read the rest

Website building apps are all about one thing — helping you craft a great-looking, fast-running website without having to mess with all that back-end code. However, nobody wants their site to look just like a template, so customization is all but a must. So how easy is it to make those changes and still not get sucked into the programming code weeds?A lot simpler than you might think with the aid of services like Weblium Website Builder. A previous holder of a #2 Product of the Week ranking on Product Hunt with over 200,000 users around the globe, Weblium has carved out a place as a website builder that makes executing your specific vision of your website in detail with remarkable ease.Getting started with Weblium begins with choosing from the more than 180 available site templates. There are 20 different site categories to sample, so you’ll pretty much always find a tone or style that matches the vibe you seek for your new site.This is the stage where the nitty-gritty truly kicks in, and with Weblium’s block design aesthetic, it’s hyper-intuitive to just pick and choose from over 200 different drag-and-drop content blocks to position on your pages any way you like. The Weblium AI Design Supervisor offers dynamic edit capabilities, so you’ll always be able to see the exact changes you’re making to a block show up immediately in your build with no guesswork later.Just add an FAQ section in one corner of your page, comments in another and maybe a social media feed along the right side — each move is as simple as point and click. Read the rest

Created by Promobot, a startup in Russia, this electronic Arnie isn't going to be murdering its way through all the Sarah Connors in the L.A. phonebook. It might find its way into a few nightmares, though.Below, the same Arnie headbot on the CES 2020 show floor. Read the rest

It's seems likely that Covid-19 will be a pandemic, maybe on the order of the 1918 Spanish Flu (listen to this podcast episode of The New York Times' The Daily for a persuasive argument as to why). It might be a good time to prepare your home for an outbreak. This NPR article, "A Guide: How To Prepare Your Home For Coronavirus," has good advice.Here's a summary:Make sure you have a supply of daily prescription medication on hand, as well as over-the-counter fever reducers.Have sufficient nonperishable foods to last your family for two weeks.Have soup, crackers, and Gatorade or Pedialyte on hand should anyone in the house get sick.Clean surfaces frequently with soap and water.Wear a mask if you get sick.Telecommute instead of going to an office, if possible.Have a plan in place for kids and older family members.Wash hands as soon as you enter your home.Cough into your elbow.Image by tatianawillmann from Pixabay Read the rest

In the 1920s, Frederick Banting, one of the scientists who co-discovered insulin (and won a Nobel Prize for it) said, “Insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world.” He and the other scientists sold the patent for making insulin to the University of Toronto for $3.And yet today, this drug, which is needed to keep millions of people with diabetes alive, costs 700% more than it did two decades ago and many people can no longer afford it. What happened? It comes down to two reasons: a "lack of pricing regulations and lack of competition," says James Dinneen in his article, "There’s No Excuse for the Insulin Crisis."There's no law stopping the three major insulin manufacturers (Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi) from charging whatever they want for the drugs they make. And since diabetics will die without it, insulin makers gouge them for all their worth. So why isn't there a low-cost generic version? The manufacturers came up with a clever way to stop that from happening.From the article:That lack of competition isn’t an accident. Though the original patents for most of the insulin formulations on the market expired years ago, the big three insulin manufacturers have extended their monopolies by patenting incremental changes to their products and manufacturing processes. Those patents can then be used to tie-up potential generic competitors in long, costly legal battles. In addition, they have been shielded from competition from generics by stringent federal regulations around “biologics” like insulin, which is a complex molecule produced by living cells. Read the rest

Watch this coach's incredible reflexes as a young gymmast misses her landing during a recent competition in Nashville, Tennessee. ViralHog quoted the girl's parent:"This was my daughter's first run on vault and when jumping back on her back handspring she went sideways and could've badly hurt herself but her coach saw that she wasn't aligned and ran in to catch her before she hit the ground." Read the rest

If Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan really want to attain the financial independence they desire, they could do worse than launching a weekly Royal Scandal magazine.

Last night, someone stole a Lincoln Navigator hearse with a body inside. The police search just ended this morning with a high-speed pursuit on the 110 freeway that ended in the Lincoln Navigator crashing. They apprehended the suspect and the body was still inside the vehicle. According to CBS Local, the SUV "was stolen from out in front of St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Church in unincorporated Pasadena. A casket holding a woman’s body was inside the vehicle at the time of the theft."News video below.To the suspect(s) driving around in a Black Lincoln Navigator stolen from the 700 blk of Rosemead Bl just after 8PM today in uninc #Pasadena:Out of all the bad decisions you have made, at least make one good one & bring back the deceased person & casket inside the Navigator. pic.twitter.com/Dvo7u94zL1— LA County Sheriffs (@LASDHQ) February 27, 2020UPDATEThis is what we can confirm. -The Black Navigator is the stolen vehicle involved in the grand theft auto from last night.-There is one suspect in custody-One casket with one deceased has been located inside the vehicle pic.twitter.com/JRrKRqYnyv— LA County Sheriffs (@LASDHQ) February 27, 2020 Read the rest

I consider myself to be a skilled parallel parker, mostly because I spent my younger years driving my mom's 1975 Oldsmobile Delta 88 land yacht. I'm not sure if I follow the steps laid out in this video by Jalopnik's Andrew Collins but his does seem like a methodologically sound approach that's infinitely better than the dreaded "park by touch" technique. Read the rest

In 1983, Cyndi Lauper transformed Robert Hazard's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" into a new wave pop anthem that Gillian G. Gaar described as a "strong feminist statement", an "anthem of female solidarity," and a "playful romp celebrating female camaraderie" in her book She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll (2002). Above, listen to Lauper belt it out in the isolated vocal track from the recording session.Also worth a listen, the original "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" as sung Hazard.(via /r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

I count myself as one of the superfans of horror auteur Jordan Peele, so I'm superexcited to see his remake of Candyman, a 1992 cult-favorite about an urban legend that turns out not to be a legend. Peele produced and co-wrote the screenplay, and it comes out June 12, 2020.From the synopsis:For as long as residents can remember, the housing projects of Chicago’s Cabrini Green neighborhood were terrorized by a word-of-mouth ghost story about a supernatural killer with a hook for a hand, easily summoned by those daring to repeat his name five times into a mirror. In present day, a decade after the last of the Cabrini towers were torn down, visual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II; HBO’s Watchmen, Us) and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris; If Beale Street Could Talk, The Photograph), move into a luxury loft condo in Cabrini, now gentrified beyond recognition and inhabited by upwardly mobile millennials.With Anthony’s painting career on the brink of stalling, a chance encounter with a Cabrini Green old-timer (Colman Domingo; HBO’s Euphoria, Assassination Nation) exposes Anthony to the tragically horrific nature of the true story behind Candyman. Anxious to maintain his status in the Chicago art world, Anthony begins to explore these macabre details in his studio as fresh grist for paintings, unknowingly opening a door to a complex past that unravels his own sanity and unleashes a terrifyingly viral wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with destiny. Read the rest