Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration confiscated $82,373 in cash from Rebecca Brown at the Pittsburgh airport and won't return it, even though she hasn't been charged with a crime. Brown says her father, 79-year-old Terry Rolin, accumulated the money over a lifetime of saving and that he gave her the cash to open a joint bank account.From The Washington Post (via Seattle Times):Rebecca Brown was catching a flight home from the Pittsburgh airport early the next day and said she didn’t have time to stop at a bank. She confirmed on a government website that it’s legal to carry any amount of cash on a domestic flight and tucked the money in her carry-on.But just minutes before departure in late August, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent met her at the busy gate and questioned her about the cash, which showed up on a security scan. He insisted Brown put Rolin on the phone to confirm her story. Brown said Rolin, who is suffering mental decline, was unable to verify some details.“He just handed me the phone and said, ‘Your stories don’t match,’ ” Brown recalled the agent saying. ” ‘We’re seizing the cash.’ “Brown said she was never told she or her father were under suspicion of committing any crime and neither has been charged with anything. A search of her bag turned up no drugs or other contraband. Neither she or her father appear to have criminal records that might raise suspicions.Image: Public Domain, Link Read the rest

Some Twitter users -- especially trolls, racists, misogynists, and fascists -- covet the blue checkmark Twitter adds to "verified" accounts, in the mistaken belief that it gives them a seal of legitimacy. Recently, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey answered customer service questions in a Wired interview and one of the questions he got was about how to receive a blue checkmark. Dorsey said, “There’s a guy named Kayvon, and he handles all the verification, which is the blue checkmark. So if you either DM him or mention him, you have a high probability of getting a blue checkmark.”Kayvon Beykpour is product lead at Twitter, and as you might imagine, every Plain-Belly Sneetch in the twittersphere started DMing him as if he was Sylvester McMonkey McBean with a check-on machine. Beykpour was forced to add a notice to his bio that read, "SORRY I'M NOT THE "VERIFICATION GOD" AND WON'T BE ABLE TO VERIFY YOU."From The Daily Dot:The Daily Dot reached out to Beykpour over Twitter to inquire about his newly appointed title as verification god but did not receive a response by publication time.Unfortunately for all the unverified accounts, it appears that Beykpour will not be granting verification status anytime soon. And while Twitter in 2016 offered users a way to apply for verification, the process was put on hold just a year later. Read the rest

JetBrains Mono is a new font designed especially for coders and developers. The lowercase characters are taller than the ones in other monospace fonts, improving readability.Consider this in contrast to some other fonts. Consolas, for example, has slightly wider letters. However, they are still rather small, which forces you to increase the size by one point to make the font more readable. As a result, lines of code tend to run longer than expected.JetBrains Mono’s standard-width letters help keep lines to the expected length. Read the rest

Capitalism has a foundational dependence on auditors -- outside entities who evaluate companies' claims about their financial state so that investors, suppliers and customers can understand whether to trust the companies with their money and business -- but those auditors are paid by the companies they're supposed to be keeping honest, and to make matters worse, 40 years of lax antitrust enforcement has allowed the auditing industry to contract to a four gigantic firms that openly practice fraud and abet corruption, with no real consequences.There've been numerous recent examples of how the Big Four accounting firms have allowed grifters to hollow out the world's largest corporations. The most egregious was Carillion, a giant contractor that had largely replaced the British government in providing vital services to large swathes of the country while sucking up billions in taxpayer money. The company had systematically defrauded the public about the state of its finances, with every one of the Big Four accounting firms signing off on its books, something that came to light in 2018 when the company collapsed in spectacular bankruptcy, leaving the people who depended on its services high and dry. To make things worse, the same accounting companies that participated in its fraud then billed Her Majesty's Government millions more to oversee Carillion's winddown.KPMG is easily the most-scandal haunted company of the Big Four, a latter-day Arthur Anderson & Co. The company has been embroiled in scandal after scandal including instances in which they bribed government regulators to steal state documents so that KPMG could anticipate which of its audit-reports would be inspected by government officials and go back and unfuck the numbers they had frauded into those books. Read the rest

Yesterday, Sherry Huss, former Maker-in-Chief of Maker Media, did a Facebook post about a new magazine, Reinvented, which has just released its second issue. The magazine, available in both print and digital formats, is written about women in STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) by women in STEM. Reinvented contains profiles of interesting, notable women in the field and even includes tutorials for things like electronics fundamentals, sensors, and other science, technology, and engineering subjects. The mission of the magazine is to re-invent the general perception of women in sci-tech and to inspire young girls to consider a future in STEM.Issue two focuses on female hackers and features our pal, Limor Fried (aka Ladyada), on the cover. Every time you subscribe to the magazine, a sub is made available to a school, local library, or girl's club.BTW: If you missed it, be sure to check out the cover profile I did of Ladyada and Adafruit for Make: magazine in 2017. Read the rest

This Hooghuys organ is over 100 years old but that didn't stop self-proclaimed Hustler Alexey Rom from making it play pop music. To get this 1914 fairground organ to pump out ABBA's "Dancing Queen," Rom had to create a custom player scroll which is no easy feat! His first viral organ hit was playing Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" (8.7M views and counting!) on a 1905 Marenghi organ. This is how he describes making that happen:The arrangement was made in Ableton Live using MIDI and was then punched into the cardboard book using an automated punch.I can only assume the process to make the scroll was similar for this organ.You may remember this is the same guy who played Boney M's disco hit "Rasputin" on a 1905 Marenghi organ. (The Awesomer) Read the rest

Celebreedy breeds new celebrities from other celebrities, using a generative adversarial network. It's the work of Eric Drass, who has a website.Eric holds a degree in Philosophy and Psychology (Oxford) and an unfinished PhD in Cognitive Psycholinguistics (also Oxford). He is co-author on a number of patents dealing with PRISM-type surveillance technologies (long before PRISM became public), and a number of academic papers relating to neural network models of language acquisition and heritability.He also used to be a singer in an experimental hardcore band, an unsuccessful male model, and once took at dotcom 1.0 company from a bedroom project to 14 countries and back, spending $50m on the way. Twenty years ago he was a TV star in America, but he doesn’t like to talk about it.Nicolas Cage (62%) / Steve Buscemi (38%) pic.twitter.com/ZyH8NN2c0X— celebreedy (@celebreedy) January 16, 2020 Read the rest

For Kayla Kenney's 15th birthday party at a Texas Roadhouse, her mother asked for a cake with colors that 'pop'. A rainbow cake was provided and Kimberly Alford posted this charming photo of the youngster about to tuck in. Someone at her school, Whitefield Academy in Louisville, spotted the photo on social media, and Kenney was expelled for the "posture of morality and cultural acceptance" the cake represented.Alford alleges the seemingly innocuous photo caused Kayla to be expelled from Whitefield Academy, a private Christian school in Louisville, where her daughter was a freshman. In an email to the family on Jan. 6, the academy’s head of school, Bruce Jacobson, wrote that Kayla’s enrollment was terminated, effective immediately, because of a social media post.Alford said an image of her Facebook post was included as an attachment to the email.“The WA Administration has been made aware of a recent picture, posted on social media, which demonstrates a posture of morality and cultural acceptance contrary to that of Whitefield Academy’s beliefs,” Jacobson wrote. “We made it clear that any further promotion, celebration or any other action and attitudes counter to Whitefield’s philosophy will not be tolerated.” Alford says neither the cake nor Kenney's jumper were a statement on sexuality. The school didn't respond to the Washington Post's inquiries, but told a local news channel Kenney had committed other "lifesyle violations" in the past, without elaborating. According to her mother, that infraction was for vape pods found in a bag search. Read the rest

Don't Read The Comments is the newest book by Eric Smith, a literary agent and author of The Geek's Guide To Dating and other books, as well as the owner of many adorable pets. (Full disclosure: Eric was also my editor many, many years ago on the Quirk Books blog, and we've remained friends since then.) It tells the story of two teens who meet and fall in love pretty much entirely online, with the help of a video massive multiplayer game called "Reclaim The Sun." Divya Sharma has managed to turn her love of the game into a popular streaming channel that brings in a little bit of revenue for her and her recently-divorced mother. Aaron Jericho is an aspiring video game writer whose parents want nothing more than for him to follow in their footsteps and go to medical school. A chance encounter in "Reclaim The Sun" helps these two isolated brown kids find solace in each other—but a well-orchestrated doxxing campaign from a group of racist, sexist trolls threatens to tear it all down.On the surface, this is a perfect nerdy setup of star-crossed lovers coming together against all odds, with a touch of hyper-relevant social commentary. In execution, it pulls that off with plenty of delight. It's certainly not the most high-stakes story I've read—the only doomed kingdoms exist in a video game—but Smith manages to keep the characters' internal stakes on the edge the whole time. And that's realistic, because these are teenagers, for whom everything does feel the end of the world, even when it's not. Read the rest

Footage of a 1990s-era David Bowie performing repeating poses against a plain blue set was used to create a holographic album insert, reports the BBC, but it turns out there's 30 minutes of video to enjoy.... the film remained in storage at Leicester's De Montfort University. "He... started to do this set of amazing iconic movements that he was famous for and all his fans would recognise", Prof [Martin] Richardson said.The footage was played to 300 lucky fans Monday. Prof Richardson, who first met the star in 1994, recalled: "Bowie said to me, 'When you've done your bloody hologram it will be up and down the width and breadth of the country. I am going to make you famous.'"He got back on the sound stage and said, 'Right, what do you want me to do?' and I thought, 'I am going to direct David Bowie, the super rock star I idolised as a boy."The hologram was then reproduced for 500,000 copies of the album. Read the rest

Akai's MPC One is a beat-making box that fits in a backpack (unlike the MPC X) and costs less than a grand (unlike the MPC Live), has a 7-inch touchscreen display, and offers a full bank of pads, knobs and dials for standalone action, and outputs and ports for hooking it up to other audio gear, synths and computers.Dani Deahl:For those unaware of the history of Akai’s MPC, the Japanese electronics company’s signature item first debuted over 30 years ago and changed music-making forever with its intuitive interface and all-in-one approach. It’s been a staple tool for tons of artists like Dr. Dre and Om’Mas Keith (Frank Ocean’s producer), and there’s even one in the Smithsonian. ... Akai says it packed a “remarkably comprehensive feature set” into the MPC One. Along with the standard 16 pads, it sports a seven-inch multitouch display and four touch-sensitive rotaries for manipulating sounds. On the back is a single set of MIDI I/O ports, four CV / Gate jacks (for controlling connected gear), and eight outputs total. There are 2GB of RAM, and USB flash and SD card storage can expand the unit’s 4GB capacity (which could easily top out since it’s preloaded with 2GB of drum samples and loops). The MPC One also ships with several soft synths and Air FX plug-ins for mixing and mastering. Akai tells The Verge that it focused on smaller size, added CV functionality, and a cheaper price to make the MPC One “the center of a ‘DAW-less jam’ style studio.” Read the rest

My friend Emily Edwards has a delightful podcast called Fuckbois of Literature, that, well, pretty much explores exactly what it promises: fuckbois, in literature.The characters of literature other readers exalt, but you hope never to meet. Maybe they screw everything that moves (and moos). Maybe they’ve locked their first wife in the attic. Maybe they’re the author of love poetry that’s screwed up our concept of romance for over 150 years. The literary fuckboi toys with your heart and leaves you hung out to dry. Join host Emily Edwards every week to discuss the most toxic characters, writers, and tropes of literature, folklore, myths, and legend. Topics include feminist literature, toxic masculinity, gender roles, and intersectional representation in books. These are the Fuckbois of Literature.There are lots of great and insightful episodes, from comedian Sara Benincasa talking about the Bible, to my personal favorite one on David Foster Wallace. But Emily was also kind and/or foolish enough to invite me and one of my best friends onto the show to discuss the various fuckbois of the X-Men universe — but namely, that hedonistic bald manipulator Professor Charles Xavier, and his fickle, horny protege, Scott Summers AKA Cyclops.I have been waiting a long time for an audience to let me indulge in my deeply serious literary analysis on sex and the X-Men, and I'm just so glad that there's more than one person in the world who cares to hear my rant about the cycle of abuse and patriarchal privilege that make Professor X and Cyclops alike both treat women like crap in the pursuit of their self-righteous goals. Read the rest

Over the holidays, I had the pleasure of getting to play a new game that quickly became my son's and my favorite over the holiday break (when we try to play lots of games together). It's my friend Doc Popular's KnifeTank and he was kind enough to send me a prototype copy.When I got the game, I was excited, but with reservations. No offense to Doc, but I expected it to be light and gimmicky, something of a vanity project. What I wasn't expecting was a game I instantly wanted to play over and over again and invite my friends to come and play (which I did). KnifeTank can hold its own against anything coming out of a large commercial game company and I look forward to it enjoying a long and happy life, with many expansions and a worldwide, enthusiastic player community.KnifeTank comes in a poker-type tuck box and includes everything you need to play. You get 30 action/movement cards, 8 tanks (4 two-sided cards), 4 health cards, and 5 damage cards. The box also contains a rule book and there are two rules summary cards. The game is for 2-4 players and rated ages 12 and up. Each game takes about 20-30 minutes to play. The goal of the game is get your tank from your table's edge to your opponent's edge or to eliminate your opponent(s) by reducing their health/hits to zero.Those familiar with tabletop miniature games like Star Wars X-Wing and Gaslands will likely dig the movement mechanic here. Read the rest

Today is the birthday (1941) of the late Don Van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart, one of then most fascinating, confounding, and creative artists and musicians of the 20th century. Let's celebrate by taking a look at his 1969 record, Trout Mask Replica, widely regarded as a masterpiece of modern sound art.And here's a bonus track. Imagine seeing this ad on late night television in 1970. Read the rest

Tom Gauld is one of my favorite cartoonists. (see my reviews of his previous books, Mooncop, You're All Just Jealous of my Jetpack, Goliath, and The Gigantic Robot). I met him a couple of years ago and he gave me the pen he uses to draw his cartoons: the Pilot Precise V5 Roller Ball Stick Pen. It makes a very clean line, and Tom told me the ink does not fade, even after many years. Now that I've started sketching again (I post some of my sketches on my Instagram account), I was reminded of Tom's pen and reordered a box. Read the rest

If you're working with databases, you're working with SQL. Even in the changing world of the web, there are some classics that endure, and SQL (along with its database management system MySQL) is one of them. Millions of websites and databases have been built using SQL code as their foundation, and they're still being built today.Needless to say, it's a must for any serious coder. And there's no better way to get your feet wet than with this MySQL & SQL for Beginners course.The lessons in the course let you get hands-on with SQL, letting you create your own database from the ground up. You'll then learn how to update it with new info and retrieve old data from it, then set up communications between your database and others.Along the way, you'll move quickly from your first queries to the complex operations and transactions that power the networks of leading companies. By the final lesson, you'll also have learned how to keep that data safe while still accessible by those who need it on the fly.Right now, lifetime access to the full course is on sale for 93% off the original cost. Read the rest

Turkey's ban on Wikipedia has been lifted, after today's official publication of a Constitutional Court ruling that the more than two-year block is a violation of freedom of expression.Excerpt from Reuters:The detailed version of the ruling published in the Official Gazette opened the way for an end to the ban, put in place in April 2017 due to entries that accused Turkey of having links to terrorist organizations.Access to the website is set to be restored once the ruling, passed by a 10-to-six majority in the court, has been conveyed to the telecommunications watchdog.Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that hosts Wikipedia, had applied to Turkey’s highest court to challenge the block. Read more:Turkey ban on Wikipedia lifted after court ruling [reuters.com/January 14, 2020 / 9:32 PM] Read the rest

If you or someone you know is a US-based student interested in attending conferences such as Investigative Reporters and Editors, The National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting, or National Association of Black Journalists and National Association of Hispanic Journalists, then you should consider applying for Propublica's Diversity Scholarship program, which offers $750 bursaries "to students who would otherwise be unable to attend," especially "people of color, women, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities." Read the rest

Spotify is now making regularly updated playlists and a podcast (I know, I know) for dogs whose owners must leave their beloved pets at home for extended hours, while they're at work and so on. The idea is dogs can listen to the audio in their owners' absence and be comforted. Some 74% of UK pet-owners play music for their animals, Spotify UK said in the launch announcement today for the company's new pet-oriented audio offerings.Did you know 69% of pet owners sing to their pets? TBH, we’re not that surprised. These stats are barking good. 🐶 #SpotifyPets https://t.co/k2XmzrUlch— Spotify News (@SpotifyNews) January 15, 2020And, get this: 25% of the pet owners in that survey say they've seen their pets dancing to music.The playlists are generated around subscribers' own musical tastes and pet species, while the "My Dog's Favourite Podcast" was created with animal experts to "help alleviate stress," Spotify told news outlets.From Reuters:The Swedish audio-streaming business company said it has launched a podcast featuring soothing music, “dog-directed praise”, stories, and messages of affirmation and reassurance narrated by actors to alleviate stress for dogs who are home alone.Meanwhile, playlists aimed at pets offer tracks selected by algorithms to match pets’ characteristics such as energetic or slow.Spotify said it found in a survey that one in four pet-owners play music for their pets to listen to for company when they are away from home, with 42% of owners saying their pets have a favorite type of music. Read the rest

Everyone is pissed.In Mexico City, many people who travel on the subway system blame authorities for the many broken escalators at train stops. Metro officials blame something else: “vast amounts of pee,” reports A-Pee.Nobody's clear exactly how it happens, but human urine, in really large amounts, is “penetrating and corroding the drive wheels and mechanisms of the escalators that carry riders up from underground stations,” AP reports:In a list published Tuesday, the Metro system listed “corrosion due to urine” as one of the top five causes of escalator breakdowns. Fermin Ramirez, the system’s assistant manager for rails and facilities, said riders appear to be urinating on escalators at off-peak hours and lightly used stations, “even though it seems hard to believe.”“When we open up escalators for maintenance, there is always urine,” Ramirez said. Most stations have no public bathroom facilities, a fact Twitter users were quick to point out, noting there are not even any pay toilets.Of the system’s 467 escalators, 22 are out of service on any given day.The biggest problem, subway authorities admit, is that the many escalators are old, or have been damaged by rough use.Mexico city plans to replace about 55 escalators over the next two years. Read more: Mexico City subway says pee causes escalator breakdowns Read the rest

Last year, McMansion Hell (previously) inaugurated its annual gingerbread McMansion competition, inviting America's bakers to challenge themselves to build the largest, most ostentatious, most ill-conceived McMansion in gingerbread form.This year's competition entries are even more glorious in their excess and (delicious) bad taste, with top marks for Erin E's "Simply Having a Wonderful Building Crime": "with the garage that is so far detached it makes the front door totally irrelevant…it’s a castle of grand sadness. The Pete Buttigieg sign is the literal icing on top."Project description: This home Defies the Ordinary. Located on a 2.3 acre lot, you’ll be the envy of all your neighbors–and can watch from the top of the turret to be sure they’re suitably jealous! Enjoy sitting al fresco under the portico above the garage, or on the hand-laid M&M stone patio! The two-story entryway accounts for just a few of the more than 60 sugar glass windows! All of the walls join up exactly where the architect expected them to, and no windows were covered up on accident!!!Constructed over two weeks, out of ten pounds of flour, four pounds of powdered sugar, and more than half a gallon of corn syrup, this modest four-story house will surely stand the test of time. It’s been meticulously decorated with royal icing vines, wreaths, and Christmas lights, and landscaped with gingerbread boulders, definitely-naturally-this-green icing grass, and coconut macaroon topiary. The roof stands at 17 inches high, and is crafted from waffle cookie shingles over gingerbread rafters. Read the rest

'I got good lungs'

This is some pretty amazing and highly rare video -- seldom do you get footage of five, count 'em FIVE, California mountain lions all hanging out together. The big cats were captured on home surveillance video, in a rare gathering of the typically solitary critters.“We shared the videos and photos with several of our wildlife biologists and none of them could recall ever seeing five mountain lions together in the same photo or video," said California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Peter Tira.KTXL News broadcast this home surveillance video footage from a residence in Amador County.Excerpt:According to the biologists, the only time more than one mountain lion can be seen together is either during the mating season or when a mother is raising her cubs, but typically only three at most are seen together. “Extraordinary to capture five together for sure,” Tira told FOX40. “There’s one lion that clearly looks to be bigger and larger than the others, so we assume that to be the mother lion.”Tira said mountain lions, also known as cougars, typically live solitary lives. During the mating season, two adults will meet but Tira said January is not mating season. “They’re not very tolerant of other mountain lions in their territories,” Tira said.According to Tira, the other lions are likely the mother’s cubs but he does not believe all of them are from the same litter. “Potentially could be two different age classes, some yearlings and maybe a 2-year-old lion that she may have had earlier,” he said. Read the rest

“In one notable instance, a saleswoman filed a lawsuit in 1997 alleging that when she told Bloomberg she was pregnant, his response was, 'Kill it.'” Mike Bloomberg is running for President of the United States as a Democrat this year. He has long been accused by former employees of maintaining a hostile working environment, in particular toward women. Allegations that Okay Bloomer has made inappropriate comments toward women and that his company, Bloomberg LP, fostered a hostile environment for female employees are the subject of a clip from ABC's The View that went viral today.“Did I ever tell a bawdy joke? Yeah, sure I did. And do I regret it? Yes. It’s embarrassing,” Bloomberg, who is 77, said on ABC’s “The View” this morning. “But, you know, that’s the way I grew up.”'Uh. Okay.Reuters:Bloomberg did not refer to specific jokes. ABC News reported in December that it had obtained a copy of a 32-page booklet distributed at a party in 1990 that included off-color and sexist remarks by Bloomberg reportedly compiled by his colleagues. The same report chronicled numerous discrimination lawsuits filed against the company over the last three decades.Bloomberg LP is a major provider of financial information for Wall Street firms. Bloomberg said his company has “very few” cases of sexual harassment given its large size.“I think most people would say we’re a great place to work. At least I hope so. I can tell you that’s what I try to do,” he said. Read the rest

From the 2010 Rush documentary "Beyond the Lighted Stage," Neal Peart, who died last week, talks about the power of Tom Sawyer. What you say about his company is what you say about society.(via Dust to Digital) Read the rest

After a late-December Washington Post story revealed a nationwide epidemic of colleges quietly installing pervasive wireless location-tracking systems on campus, which gathered data on students without meaningful consent, inside and outside of class, broken down by protected categories such as race and gender, as well as on potentially invasive lines such as whether a student is from abroad, security researcher Lace R Vick (previously) tweeted an offer to students to explain how they could "dismantle such a system."In a followup Gizmodo article, Vick delves into the deficiencies with the notifications, consent and privacy policies associated with these services -- which are a typical mess of overbroad grabs that are subject to change without notice, couched in deceptive language.Vick also puts campus location-tracking in the context of campus information security, which is historically very poor, with low-quality passwords, a lack of access auditing, and interconnection of services and networks that allow both outside attackers and insider threats (such as a professor who wants to stalk a student) to operate with wide latitude and a low likelihood of being caught. Adding location-tracking to such a system vastly increases the risks of the kinds of cyberattacks that are already endemic to campuses. For his finale, Vick explains what he would have done had he been an undergrad on a campus with such a system, including setting up fake beacons that record every student as being present in every class; using their own tracking beacons to create public league tables of which profs preside over classes that students are likely to skip; disrupting Bluetooth radio frequency bands to block all the tracking beacons; decompiling the app to analyze how the services share data and to see if there are strong protections to stop users from getting location-data on other people. Read the rest

An explosive fight erupted at a UK Turkish cafe called Ken's Kebabs, with kicks and objects being thrown around. But that didn't stop this 52-year-old man from eating his meal while calmly taking in the scenery. Must be some damn good kebabs. Read the rest

Twitter user @sydneywhitson reported that "her coworker called in (yet again) and said she had a nail on her tire that caused her to have a flat" and reportedly sent in the above photo as evidence. Zoomed version below. Of course, Twitter delighted in the stupidity.Here’s an actual picture you can use next time pic.twitter.com/v0QqrymGUc— 𝚂𝚊𝚖 𝙱𝚘𝚒 (@SamuelJarman) January 9, 2020(via Petapixel) Read the rest

Still recovering after all that holiday shopping? That doesn't mean you can't ring in the new year with a new computer. These Mac minis are all refurbished, which means they're available for sometimes hundreds off the retail price. Here are of our favorite deals still out there.Apple Mac Mini Intel Core i5 2.3GHz 8GB RAM 500GB - White (Refurbished)Hook this 7.7" unit up to a keyboard and monitor, and you can take advantage of 2.3GHz Intel Core i5 processing. The 8GB RAM of memory is everyday browsing, streaming, and multi-tasking as well.MSRP: $399Sale Price: $249.99Apple Mac Mini Intel Core i5 2.5GHz 500GB HDD - White (Refurbished)Here's another compact computer that's fully ready for household use. Its Intel HD Graphics 4000 will keep gamers happy while the 4 USB ports let you hook up an array of peripherals.MSRP: $399Sale Price: $259.99Apple Mac Mini Intel Core 2 Duo 320GB - Silver (Certified Refurbished)The 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor on this 2010 model is still great for work use, and the DVD writer makes it easy to burn movies for your home library. Watching them on the NVIDIA GeForce 320M 256GB video card is pretty satisfying, too.MSRP: $479Sale Price: $349Apple Mac Mini 1.4GHz Intel Core i5 Dual-Core 500GB HDD - Silver (Certified Refurbished)Need a bit more speed? This 2014 Mac Mini comes with Turbo Boost 2.0, not to mention Hyper-Threading capability for those who need to multitask. The 500 GB HDD storage is mighty generous as well. Read the rest

In 2019, knife crime in England and Wales hit record highs with police counting 44,000 offenses over a year span, half of which were stabbings. In an effort to help (and also probably to, ahem, get some press), UK cutlery brand Viners is now selling a line of knives with squared-off tips. From Insider:Due to be released later this week, (a Viners press release states that the line) has been "repeatedly tested to ensure the tip does not pierce skin intentionally or otherwise.""With knife-related crime incidents at a record high and a reported 285 fatalities in the last 12 months alone, the UK government has taken the decision to reclassify kitchen knives as an offensive weapon with the new Offensive Weapons Act 2019, leading some retailers to remove single knives from sale in retail stores," a press release for the knife collection stated."The new Assure collection from Viners has been created in response to this new legislation, with the team extensively testing a new shape knife that is highly functional for the modern cook but shaped to reduce and prevent injuries, accidents and fatalities." Read the rest

The Whitefield Academy is a "Christ-centered, college-preparatory school for grades PreK-12 fostering a passion for learning, others ahead of self, and the living and active Jesus." That is to say, it's a school for religious maniacs.Kimberly Alford is a former student at Whitefield Academy. She was expelled after administrators saw that she had posted a photo of herself at her 15th birthday party, blowing out the candles while wearing a shirt with rainbow patterns on the sleeves.Whitefield expelled Alford for "lifestyle violations." According to the school's head, Dr Bruce Jacobson, the shirt "demonstrates a posture of morality and cultural acceptance contrary to that of Whitefield Academy’s beliefs." Though neither Jacobson nor his staff would meet with Alford and her family nor discuss her explusion with her, they did allow her to voluntarily withdraw from the school to spare her from having an expulsion on her transcript. She is now a student at a public school.Alford has denied that she wore her shirt in solidarity with gay rights. The school administrators claim that the photo was the final straw following violations of "our student code of conduct numerous times over the past two years." They did not elaborate on these "violations." Her mother says that she was once caught with an e-cigarette and once disciplined for leaving campus during lunch period.According to Whitefield Academy’s parent/student handbook, the school seeks to work in tandem with children’s families to “mold students to be Christ-like.”“On occasion, the atmosphere or conduct within a particular home may be counter or in opposition to the Biblical lifestyle the school teaches,” the handbook says. Read the rest

In Tampa, Florida, Emily Stallard, 37, was arrested for attempting to make a bomb inside a Walmart using materials she grabbed from the store shelves. From CNN:"A security guard with Walmart noticed the woman ... roaming the aisles of the store and opening unpaid items. The items included flammable materials, projectiles and matches," the sheriff's office said..."This woman had all the supplies she needed to cause mass destruction at her disposal," Sheriff Chad Chronister said."Had it not been for an alert off-duty law enforcement officer and a watchful security staff at Walmart, she may have followed through with her plans to cause an explosion inside the store..."Stallard had a child with her at the time of the incident, authorities said. She was arrested on charges of attempted arson of a structure, fire bombing, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, child abuse and battery on a law enforcement officer. Deputies said she spit on them while she was being arrested. Read the rest

Too bad, Twitterers! Jack Dorsey said Tuesday that they'll likely never let people edit their tweets. "Live with your mistakes," adds James Vincent, "which include joining Twitter"Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey uses the power of his own website (Twitter) to answer frequently asked questions about one of the world's most popular social media platforms, Twitter! Is the Twitter bird's name really Larry? How can you identify a Twitter bot? Why does Twitter have a character limit? How do you get verified on Twitter? Jack answers ALL these Twitter-centric questions and much, much more!Screengrab: Wired Read the rest

A teenager who had to move in with his grandmother after his parents died will have to move out: she's in a seniors' community where minors are banned and the homeowners' associated is doing everything it can to get rid of him. The family of Collin Clabaugh, 15, tells ABC15 that their grandson came to live with them after both his parents died two weeks apart.“It’s amazing how one rule is more important than one person’s life,” said Melodie Passmore, grandmother of Clabaugh.Passmore said she received an HOA letter from her community in Prescott that gives them a deadline of June to find other accommodations for Clabaugh. I love her response to the board — “I’ve stepped in things I find nicer than you people” — and hope the publicity means someone will help her find a rule to rub their face in it.It's a stark reminder that senior-only communities are inappropriate for people with grandchildren, but the underlying problem is HOAs. Avoid them unless you're willing to shackle your family's wellbeing to your worst neighbors' investments.Correction: An earlier version of this post misplaced the community in Florida. It is in Arizona. Read the rest

Judith Hope is a UK-based puppeteer who has created maneuverable art for theatre, festivals, parades, and more. Most recently, she was hired to work on a show called "Microbodyssey," which describes itself as a "visual theatre experience for both adults and children that features puppetry, shadow theatre and an original score" about microbes and other invisible organisms.And so, for this project, Hope has had the distinct pleasure of creating child-sized puppets of things like tardigrades: View this post on Instagram Tardy the Tardigrade off to her new home with @tatwoodpuppets ! She'll be performing in #microbodyssey this weekend at Centre for Life and at Moving Parts Puppetry Festival in Newcastle in April. Highly recommended! . . #tardigrade #tardigradepuppet #sciencepuppets #puppet #microbes #puppetmaker #puppetstudio #puppetworkshopA post shared by Judith Hope (@judithhopepuppetmaker) on Jan 5, 2019 at 3:29am PSTAnd a bacteriophage: View this post on Instagram Finished "Phagey" the bactetiophage, made for @tatwoodpuppets show #microbodyssey On this weekend at Centre for Life, Newcastle and Moving Parts Puppetry Festival in April. . #bacteriophage #microbes #sciencepuppet #scienceeducation #puppets #puppetmaker #puppetstudio #puppetworkshopA post shared by Judith Hope (@judithhopepuppetmaker) on Jan 5, 2019 at 3:22am PSTAnd they're all weirdly fascinating!You can check out more of these freakishly adorable puppets on Hope's Instagram, or you can check out the "Microbodyssey" touring show in the UK.Tiny Organisms Escape Life Under a Microscope in Oversized Puppets by Judith Hope [Grace Ebert / This Is Colossal]Image via Eden Pictures / Flickr Read the rest

The Upland Film Co. took a walk around Dublin with an old-timey cine camera loaded with Kodak film: "Shot a few rolls of 16mm in Dublin on the trusty ol' Bolex." The results are comforting yet uncanny, the new and the old in harmony and tension. Read the rest

This 2½ minute commercial for termite spray is amusing, not least in how it explains why you shouldn't panic if the bugs don't immediately die. I feel more satisfied having watched it than most recent movies. Read the rest

Da solen stod op om natten, often translated as How a Baby Is Made or The True Story of How Babies Are Made, was originally published in 1972. Written by 1971 by Danish psychotherapist Per Holm Knudsen, it actually won a Danish Ministry of Culture Children's Book prize for its, uhh, highly accurate depiction of where, in fact, babies come from:How A Baby Is Made, by Per Holm Knudsen. Piccolo Books, 1975. #FlashbackFriday pic.twitter.com/btiqQjExGU— Pulp Librarian (@PulpLibrarian) January 10, 2020On one hand, this is uhhh, pretty graphic. On the other: well, maybe it's better that we stop lying to children and treating sex like some shameful secret. So in that case, it's pretty good. Just not in a creepy way.But if that's the kind of thing you want to share with your kids, you can pick up a used copy on Amazon for around $50.This ridiculous sex ed book demonstrates everything that was awesome about the 1970s [Jam Kotenko / Daily Dot]Image via Wikimedia Commons Read the rest

While the GOP continues their struggle to come up with reasons why "not having witnesses at an impeachment trial" is somehow a good thing, the House Democrats have released some new evidence that will be included in the Articles of Impeachment they inevitably send to the Senate. Most of the documents were obtained by Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani who was born in the Ukraine and who has sold property for the Trump Organization and also helped to broker deals with Ukrainian oligarchs.These documents include a handwritten note from Parnas reminding himself to "get Zalensky [sic] to Annonce [sic] that the Biden case will Be Investigated." Which is, uhhh, pretty much exactly the issue that this impeachment investigation hinges on.https://twitter.com/keithboykin/status/1217220632489971712There are also some creepy notes about the obsessive attention paid to Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, including some insinuations from Connecticut Congressional Candidate Robert Hyde that he was actively surveilling her.Um holy sh*t. This certainly makes it sound like Parnas and co. were actively tracking Yovanovitch's movements. This could explain why Yovanovitch was moved out of Ukraine so quickly. https://t.co/4rBRB06ZGN pic.twitter.com/5Gc8WcGPih— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) January 14, 2020What do you call a smoking gun when it's handwritten notes and text messages? Unfortunately, for most of the GOP, it's probably still a "Nothingburger."House Dems release new impeachment evidence related to indicted Giuliani associate [Andrew Desiderio / Politico]Image via House Intelligence Community Read the rest

Get ready to go directly to gross-out because a Garbage Pails Kids-themed Monopoly game is on its way! 2020 marks the 35th anniversary of the delightfully disgusting trading cards that parody the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls. According to Bloody Disgusting, Topps has "all sorts of plans in motion for the big celebration," starting with this $39.95 board game.Relive the totally awesome 80’s with the MONOPOLY®: Garbage Pail Kids game! This game has the classic sticker artwork and new custom illustrations for a new generation of fans. Comes with 6 custom tokens.Hey, while we're talking about Garbage Pail Kids, do watch the 2016 documentary 30 Years of Garbage: The Garbage Pail Kids Story.image via ACD Distribution Read the rest

Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH you are urged to do your patriotic duty to the military whims of Uncle Trump

If you love wine — and we mean, really love wine — it's a personal thing. You know what foods your favorite wine likes to mingle with and the ones they don't. You have a favorite time to drink. You've read a thing or two about its history, maybe visited where it was made. It's not just a drink — it's a ritual.This personal connection, more than anything, is why more wine lovers don't join those wine clubs that seem to popping up with increasing frequency. It's not that they don't love to explore and try new things. Far from it. It's just that the whole experience of having wine picked out by someone else who knows little to nothing about you feels, well, impersonal.But it doesn't have to be. WineAccess is the first wine club we know of where you get more than just wine. You get stories, context and above all, a reason why you should care about your bottle before you even pop the cork.None of this should be surprising. The people behind WineAccess have decades of experience making wine, writing about it and just plain loving it. (And of course, they're based in the vineyard mecca, California's Napa Valley.)With each shipment of wine you get, you can tell an expert carefully curated the selections. The wines are shipped under strict climate control, but you get more than just the lovingly packed bottles. You get tasting notes, plus access to a story and video that tells you about the winery, circumstances and struggles that resulted in the creation of your picks. Read the rest

TV-talking lawyer of Stormy Daniels vs. Donald Trump fame is now in federal custody

Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn is moving to withdraw his guilty plea, in a reversal that seems in line with a likely request for a pardon from President Donald Trump.WAPO:The retired three-star Army general turned against prosecutors after initially cooperating in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe and pleading guilty to lying to investigators about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the United States. A federal judge last month rejected Flynn’s claims that prosecutors withheld evidence and duped him into pleading guilty. A judge must approve any change in the plea. Read the rest

Nathaniel Stern writes, "The World After Us: Imaging techno-aesthetic futures (Flickr set) is an art exhibition that asks, 'What will — and what can — happen to our gadgets over geological time?' For the last few years, I have been working scientists to artificially age phones and computers in different ways, growing plants and fungi in watches, phones, laptops, and more, and turning phones into ink (via blenders and oils), iMacs into tools (melting down the aluminum, and shaping it into a wrench, hammer, and screwdriver), and otherwise spiking electronic waste onto 12 foot towers and/or 'growing' them (intermingled with botanicals) across 1000 square feet of wall space. Here I want people to think and act differently in and with their media devices, their electronic waste, and the damage it does to create both in the first place." Read the rest

A Boing Boing reader and superfan who wishes to remain anonymous is auctioning of an amazing collection of Disneyana with Potter & Potter: "Lots of original silk-screened park posters, Castmember costumes, original park signs, WDI art, blueprints, plus lots of souvenirs." Read the rest

For decades, the "bystander effect" (previously) has been a bedrock of received psychological wisdom: "individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present; the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that one of them will help."Some experiments seem to have borne this out, though these experiments were, of necessity, contrived: "it is ethically and practically difficult to simulate violent emergencies." Now, an international team of psych researchers have created an empirical account of the bystander effect that punctures the received wisdom, finding that in 9 out of 10 times, bystanders do step up to help; and the more bystanders there are, the greater the likelihood is that you will receive help.The researchers used police CCTV video footage of "conflict between at least two individuals" and analyzed whether bystanders intervened to help. The footage came from central districts Cape Town, Amsterdam, and Lancaster, providing data on cities with very different public perceptions of the likelihood and severity of violent crime.The researchers concluded that not only did one or more people intervene in 90% of conflicts, but also that the likelihood of intervention went up with the number of bystanders present.The researchers say that earlier work on the bystander effect focused on "responsibility diffusion" (the feeling that someone else was likely to step in so you didn't have to), but not enough of "mechanical helping potential" (the pervasive tendency to want to help). They caution that they were only able to survey conflicts in cities' central business districts, and that these conclusions don't necessarily carry over to "conflicts at music and sporting events, or sexual aggression on campuses." Read the rest

L.A. City Fire says 2 classes were outside when liquid jet fuel rained down on them from the sky shortly before noon Pacific time.BREAKING NEWS: Delta Airlines flight 89 from Los Angeles to Shanghai was nearing LAX in an emergency landing sequence when it dumped fuel on a school playground, and the kids and teachers who were outside.• Authorities say 17 children and 9 adults were treated for minor injuries.• The FAA has declared an emergency.• Delta says the jet experienced an engine issue requiring return to LAX. • Plane landed safely after the emergency fuel release to reduce landing weight.As of 130PM Pacific time, LA County Fire Department said, “Patient count updated to 17 children, 9 adults. All minor injuries with no transports to local hospital from school. There are no evacuation orders for the immediate area. Substance was confirmed JET FUEL.”Parents are asked to refer to the school for plans to pick up their child. UPDATE*** Patient count updated to 17 children, 9 adults. All minor injuries w/ no transports to local hospital from school. There are no evacuation orders for the immediate area. Substance was confirmed JET FUEL.Refer to school regarding plans for child pick-up. #LACoFD— L.A. County Fire Department (@LACoFDPIO) January 14, 2020Video below from eyewitness @SujeyHernandez.Caught this in Bell Gardens over my house NEWS SAID IT DROPPED FUEL OVER AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN CUDAHY @KTLA @FOXLA @cnnbrk @UniNoticias @NBCLA @ABC7 @ABC @NBCNews @TelemundoNews pic.twitter.com/VG3HBpyYtn Read the rest

Amazon has reinstated FedEx as a ground delivery carrier for Prime members' shipments. The online retailer said today the shipper consistently met its delivery requirements, after suspending it last month.On Tuesday, Amazon officially told third-party sellers they may now go back to using FedEx's ground-delivery shipping services for orders.Annie Palmer at CNBC reports that FedEx is confirming Amazon has lifted the ban. Excerpt:“This is good news for our mutual customers who have come to rely on the FedEx Ground offering,” the spokesperson said. “We look forward to working with Seller Fulfilled Prime merchants and providing outstanding service.”Sellers have been unable to use FedEx’s ground delivery services to ship Prime packages for almost one month. In December, the company suspended third-party sellers’ access to FedEx’s ground and home delivery services for Prime orders. Amazon blamed the decision on FedEx’s poor delivery performance, noting it would resume access once the service improved.The decision caught some third-party merchants off guard during the busiest shopping period of the year. Some sellers were forced to find a new carrier and potentially face higher upfront costs as a result. Other sellers said they had grown frustrated with FedEx’s service delays.Read more:Amazon lifts FedEx ground-delivery ban for sellers, FedEx shares rise [cnbc.com via techmeme] Read the rest

Dan Doctoroff and Stephen Diamond could hardly suppress their affection for each other at their January 13 joint luncheon address hosted by the Toronto Region Board of Trade.No wonder: the two are firmly united in gunning for Sidewalk Labs -- a sister company of the Google/Alphabet behemoth -- to rapidly spin its all-encompassing, government-usurping, high-tech web first on the 12-acre Quayside site on Toronto’s eastern waterfront and then across the rest of the city, all of Canada and the rest of the planet.I’ve previously written about how Sidewalk Labs is poised to gain control of a vastly larger area than Quayside alone, thanks largely to eager enabling by our municipal, provincial and federal governments and by Waterfront Toronto, which is a creation of these three levels of government.The company hasn’t been secretive about its goal to use Quayside as a launching pad for much bigger ambitions. But now it appears they’re confident enough – due to the successful co-opting of our governments and business communities, together with much of the mainstream media and the public – to broadcast more of the scope of their plans.The sold-out Jan. 13 event was billed as an opportunity for Doctoroff and Diamond – Sidewalk Labs CEO and Waterfront Toronto board chair, respectively – to “share experiences on the successful negotiations between the two organizations” and to “share insights on how this new partnership will impact the development of Toronto’s waterfront, and the opportunity it brings to the broader region.”The pair delivered. Read the rest