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When businesses need a database, Microsoft Access is the tool they use to build it. Companies around the world have been using Access to set up, maintain and modify their systems for years now.Needless to say, knowing your way around that software is key if you want to do database or IT work today. And because you never know which edition you'll be working with, the Ultimate Microsoft Access Mastery Bundle is your best bet for learning it.Access is a multifaceted piece of software, so as you might imagine, there's a lot to cover. And not only does the course pack cover it all, but it also has a distinct curriculum that pertains to all the recent editions of the platform: Access 2013, 2016 and 2019.You'll learn how to utilize all the time-saving macros in the program, from simple ones like SetTempVar to AutoExec. And by the end of the course, you'll be able to build a database on any server and manage it through any set of changes.All told, the bundle contains more than 50 hours of training. Lifetime access to the courses is available for a full 94% off the retail price today. Read the rest

Please Hammer, don't hurt'em. Read the rest

Environmental writer Emma Marris (author of Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World) offers a five-step process in the New York Times for confronting the climate crisis without being overwhelmed by hopelessness.Marris's advice is to focus on climate as a systemic problem, with collective solutions -- rather than beating yourself up about your individual choices about how you travel or which things you recycle. You cannot recycle your way out of climate change -- you can only join and support mass movements to create deep, systemic changes.That's one of the reasons I'm supporting Bernie Sanders in the 2020 election and spending as much as I can to help him get elected.The five points Marris makes are: "Ditch the shame" (your car didn't cause climate change); "Focus on systems, not yourself" (go after electing the right people and making the right laws, not on greening your consumption habits); "Join an effective group"; "Define your role" (find a way to help that group) and "Know what you are fighting for, not just what you are fighting against" (imagine a better future, not just averting a worse one).As the climate essayist Mary Annaïse Heglar writes, “The belief that this enormous, existential problem could have been fixed if all of us had just tweaked our consumptive habits is not only preposterous; it’s dangerous.” It turns eco-saints against eco-sinners, who are really just fellow victims. It misleads us into thinking that we have agency only by dint of our consumption habits — that buying correctly is the only way we can fight climate change. Read the rest

A new study shares that dogs like to poop along magnetic north. Having frequently watched my dog scramble around looking for the perfect place to take a dump, I now understand.Poop on, little Pretzel.PBS:The study suggests that dogs are sensitive to small variations in Earth’s magnetic field. After examining 70 dogs — made up of 37 breeds — over two years, 1,893 defecations and 5,582 urinations, researchers found that under “calm magnetic field conditions,” dogs preferred to “excrete with the body being aligned along the north-south axis,” avoiding east-west altogether. Dogs were observed in a free-roaming environment, meaning they were not leashed and not influenced by walls or roads that would influence linear movement. Read the rest

Social media is here for social media.This is incredibly important please watch and share pic.twitter.com/eDtZmEp3ir— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) January 16, 2020 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Read the rest

Lee Steffen's glorious Twitter thread about "the ten types of movies" (as determined by similarities in their poster art is quite the little design project, building on similar work from the likes of Christophe Courtois and others. (via Kottke)There are only 10 types of movies. (A short thread)1. Orange and blue action pic.twitter.com/YwKABlrsSZ— 𝕃𝔼𝔼 (@leesteffen) January 14, 2020 Read the rest

“It is unclear who put the hat on the bird.”

Some American conspiracy theorists believe (incorrectly) that the US inherited the entire body of English common-law prior to the American Revolution, including the law allowing litigants to demand trial by combat (this law was struck down in England in 1819).This question was comprehensively resolved in the USA in 1892, when the Iowa Supreme Court's Pierson v. Lane decision held that "The principles of the common law have been adopted in this country only so far as applicable to the habits and condition of our society, and in harmony with the genius, spirit, and objects of our institutions."But there's a whole cottage industry of American amateur constitutionalists -- like the delusional sovereign citizen movement -- that believe that they have discovered secret deep meanings in America's founding documents that can be used as magical incantations to allow them to occupy federal lands, or ignore courts, or stop paying taxes...or challenge people to trial by combat.Most recently, David Ostrom, of Paola, Kansas asked a court in Iowa to use trial-by-combat to resolve a dispute with his ex-wife (he said he would allow her to choose a champion to fight her side, and asked for 12 weeks to source appropriate swords).The ex-wife’s attorney opposed the motion, saying that although he and his client “do have souls to be rended, they respectfully request that the court not order this done.” This gave Ostrom both a way out and an opportunity to claim victory, by saying that the other side had, legally speaking, chickened out: Historically, [Ostrom] said in court records [most likely a reply brief], trial by combat was not always won by way of death, but also when a party “cries craven,” yielding to the other. “Respondent and counsel have proven themselves to be cravens by refusing to answer the call to battle, thus they should lose this motion by default,” Ostrom wrote, adding that if the other party decided otherwise, he wants to proceed with a “blunted practice style” of sword play.Kansas Man Seeks Trial by Combat [Kevin Underhill/Lowering the Bar](Image: Sam / Olai Ose / Skjaervoy, CC BY-SA)) Read the rest

In Hong Kong, the protracted pro-democracy uprising has triggered a local economic recession, especially as businesses and Hong Kongers seek to boycott mainland Chinese businesses and products.However, some businesses are fighting the recession by explicitly identifying themselves as partisans for the pro-democracy movement; these "yellow businesses" attract customers who want to spend money with merchants whose political leaning match their own. Online services help Hong Kong people find "yellow businesses" so they can preferentially patronize them.By contrast "blue businesses" are not self-declared -- rather, the label is given to firms that are considered to be in thrall to the mainland Chinese government and opposed to the pro-democracy movement (for example, Maxim's, a catering firm that operates Hong Kong's Starbucks outlets, is considered "blue" because the owner's daughter made public statements calling protesters "rioters" and decrying Hong Kong's youth). Blue businesses are sometimes vandalized or postered.Weirdly, Pepe the Frog -- a cartoon character hijacked by western white nationalists -- has become a mascot for Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement. At Fu Kee Noodles in Wan Chai, diners slurp wonton under the watchful gaze of a gas mask-wearing Pepe the Frog, which has become a mascot of the pro-democracy movement."This is a yellow shop, the boss supports the protesters, so we decided to come," said a 47-year-old advertising employee calling himself Gilbert."The most important thing in Hong Kong now is that we need to help each other, especially when the government does not help us."Posters and post-it notes with pro-democracy messages cover the wall by the cashier. Read the rest

In Israel on Thursday, a court ordered closed-door hearings in the legal bid by Amnesty International to stop the global export of NSO Group surveillance software, which Amnesty and other human rights groups say is sold to autocratic regimes around the world to spy on journalists and dissidents, and target them more efficiently for imprisonment and assassination. We've written a lot previously about NSO Group here on Boing Boing..In Tel Aviv District Court, a judge on Thursday banned the public and media from court sessions, citing national security concerns. “It’s outrageous we have to be gagged,” Gil Naveh, an Amnesty spokesman, told reporters. Reports Steven Scheer for Reuters from Tel Aviv:NSO has said it only sells its technology to state and law enforcement agencies “to help them fight terrorism and serious crime”.Judge Rachel Barkai initially had said she would allow Amnesty’s arguments to be heard publicly but government lawyers argued it would then look as if the state was admitting to Amnesty’s accusations and Barkai changed her mind.NSO came under particular scrutiny when a Saudi dissident close to murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi filed a lawsuit alleging that NSO had helped the royal court to take over his smartphone and spy on his communications with Khashoggi. NSO has denied that its technology was used in Khashoggi’s murder.In October, WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook Inc, sued NSO in the U.S. federal court in San Francisco, accusing it of helping government spies break into the phones of about 1,400 users across four continents. Read the rest

China technologi firm Xiaomi says it has fully resolved the security issue that led to Google 'disabling' integration across its platforms. Xiaomi cameras connected to its security cameras were showing feeds from random homes . Now that the Chinese firm says it's all sorted out, Google integrations are now re-enabled.I'm sure everything is totally fine.Reports Ben Schoon [@NexusBen] at 9to5Google:A Xiaomi spokesperson speaking to 9to5Google has now confirmed that Xiaomi has fully resolved this issue. From today, January 16th, Xiaomi integration with Google Assistant should be fully working once again and “stronger measures” will be taken to prevent this from happening again. We now confirm that we have fully resolved the root cause of this issue, and Xiaomi’s Google integration service has resumed from 16, January. Users can now use Xiaomi’s Mi security camera services via Nest devices. At Xiaomi, we take user privacy and information security as top priority. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused for affected users. We will take even stronger measures to prevent such incidents in the future.Previously on Boing Boing:Google 'disabling Xiaomi integrations on our devices' after Nest Hub user picked up random pics from strangers' feeds[9to5Google via techmeme.com, 'shoop by author] Read the rest

Peruvian police are deporting five tourists from Chile, Brazil, France and Argentina for allegedly sneaking into the Macchu Picchu citadel, defacating among the Incan ruins and breaking the stonework inside the Temple of the Sun. According to The Guardian, "An Argentinian man will remain in the country to face charges of 'destroying Peru’s cultural heritage' after he acknowledged a lead role in the vandalism."In recent years, Peruvian authorities have also had to crack down on tourists stripping naked and streaking through the ruins for photos.image: Macchu Picchu by Martin St-Amant (CC BY-SA 3.0) Read the rest

In the United States, January 16 is National Nothing Day. San Francisco Examiner columnist Harold Pullman Coffin created the holiday in 1973 "to provide Americans with one national holiday when they can just sit without celebrating, observing, or honoring anything." From Checkiday.com:It is ironic that it was created "to protest the proliferation of special days," as another holiday was started by its creation. Although it is meant to be a day when people do nothing, there are various other holidays that are observed on January 16 which undermine its message. Additionally, new holidays continue to be added on any given day of the year. Coffin also created the National Nothing Foundation, although it appears this no longer exists. Coffin himself passed away in 1981, but his holiday of nothing has continued to be celebrated—we think. It's a little hard to measure the popularity of a holiday where you do nothing. Read the rest

In 2015 I installed this Delta Water-Amplifying showerhead in a shower that has low pressure. It really does deliver a nice spray with large droplets. It's got a little knob that lets you switch between 2.5 and 1.85 GPM, but I had a hard time telling the difference. Installation is simple.Here's a good video that shows how to change a showerhead: Read the rest

Now that many online services rely on sending SMSes to your phone to authenticate your identify, thieves and stalkers have created a whole "SIM swap" industry where they defraud your phone company or bribe employees to help them steal your phone account so they can break into all your other accounts. In the years since SIM swap attacks were first publicized, carriers have faced litigation and congressional scrutiny for the role their lax security played in the attacks. They have added a suite of security measures that are supposed to staunch the bleeding, but as a recent study found, these measures present no real impediment to identity thieves -- and after the study was completed, the carriers largely ignored it and its recommendations.The study -- conducted by Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy (previously) details how researchers were able to bypass carrier security measures such as requiring people to give date of birth and billing ZIP codes by stating that they had been careless during the signup period and couldn't recall what answers they'd given previously. What's more, the researchers found it simple to bypass the carriers' requirement that the subscriber dial two phone numbers to confirm the swap -- they just sent fraudulent texts to the real customers telling them they'd won a prize and asking them to dial a certain number to collect it, then followed up by saying they had sent the wrong number originally and asking the victim to dial the second number instead. Read the rest

Is that sleek new iPhone a little too sleek? There is not, as it turns out, an app for that. But if you need a classic arcade fix, there is a case for it.The GAMECASE is a retro gamer's dream: A functional iPhone case that also turns your screen into a battleground for the 8-bit games of yesteryear.The look of the case alone should make any hardcore gamer's thumbs twitch with anticipation. And yes, it's functional. Those buttons serve as real, workable controls for the games that are included and accessible whenever you snap on the case,And what a lineup of games they are. You get 36 games in all, drawn from the golden era when Nintendo consoles were just becoming a fixture in living rooms across the world. You've got stand-up arcade favorites like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Arkanoid, and Super Contra. Super Mario Bros., Tetris, Excitebike, and other console stalwarts are on the list. And you've got plenty of dark horse favorites like 1942, Road Fighter and Mappy - plenty to keep you occupied and your fellow commuters jealous.The GAMECASE: 36-in-1 Retro Gaming Case for iPhone is now a full 90% off the retail price. Read the rest

Under Missouri House Bill 2044 -- the "Parental Oversight of Public Libraries Act" -- each town will elect a committee of five local people (librarians are not permitted to serve) who will take local submission for books to ban. If they choose to ban a book, any librarian who allows a minor to check out or read that book will face up to a year in prison, and their libraries will be de-funded.The unconsitutional bill was proposed by Rep Ben Baker [R-160/573-751-9781/Ben.Baker@house.mo.gov/@benbakermo] who holds a BA in Biblical Literature from the Ozark Bible Institute where he is Dean of Students.Books that Missourians have tried to ban from public libraries in recent years include "Sherman Alexie’s award-winning The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak."Baker told a local news station that he didn't want to ban books, but that, "I just think that we need to be careful about funding something with our taxpayer dollars without parental consent."The Missouri Library Association said it was opposing the bill, because it “will always stand against censorship and for the freedom to read”.“Public libraries already have procedures in place to assist patrons in protecting their own children while not infringing on the rights of other patrons or restricting materials,” it added.Baker told Koam News that he was not trying to ban books. “I just think that there’s a line between what is open and available access for our children. Read the rest

It’s ’The Sound & The Fury' over at Buckingham Palace these days in more ways than one, as Britain’s royals all have differing perspectives on “Megxit,” while it’s Christmas and July 4th wrapped into one for this week's tabloids.

In the 1990s, Marc Newsom designed the Apple retail store concept as imagined in this presentation video by Me Company. While this design didn't get the go-ahead from Apple twenty-five years ago, today it would be perfect for a vaporwave record store.(r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

Did teenagers use pagers in the 1990s? I don't know any who did. Nevertheless, here's an LA Times sidebar that shows the codes kids used to chat via pager back in the day.[via r/coolguides] Read the rest

A British woman has defiantly rejected criticism from Lincolnshire County Council, which has asked her to stop spraying paint bugs around potholes that it has failed to patch. Locals have nicknamed her "Bugsy" in honor of the crude but colorful roadway creations.Lincolnshire County Council said repair of the hole would be delayed due to the paint having to be removed."On Friday night I was going along and hit a pothole which burst my tyre," Ms Holland said. "I took it to the tyre place on Saturday and £53 later I decided I'd had enough. I went and bought some spray paint and I made it into a bug. If I can save people from getting a bill like I did then it's worth it."Sounds to me like Ms. Holland should be equipped with some sidewalk spray chalk [Amazon]: highlights the danger and puts a fire under the council, but washes away with water.Photos: Karan Holland. Read the rest

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