When Steve Beshear was governor of Kentucky, he told experts to go fuck themselves and instead allowed the Australian investment bank Macquarie Capital to manage Kentuckywired, a program to build out broadband to rural Kentuckians.Four years later, the project is massively overbudget, massively behind schedule, and state auditor Mike Harmon just released a report blaming the delays and overages on the decision of Beshear and his cronies to sideline experts and go with the bankers. The total bill is expected to be some $1.5b. During the time in which Beshear was ignoring expert advisors, Frank Lassiter, husband of Beshear's cabinet secretary, took a high-paid consulting gig for Macquarie. Harmon recommends that Kentucky procedures be amended to require law and policymakers to formally explain any time they ignore expert advice. Until last week, Kentuckywired was overseen by Bernard “Deck” Decker, but he was fired without explanation by the governor, after he published an open letter to the auditor in which he stated, "By ignoring those that actually knew what they were talking about, those involved in this contract have increased the cost to the Commonwealth by hundreds of millions of dollars that they did not have a right to risk."Baller and Maryland-based CTC Technology & Energy, consultants hired by the state to assist in the process, warned that such an agreement could end up costing the state more money.“Macquarie is expert at negotiating agreements that minimize or eliminate its own financial risk,” CTC officials told the state in a December 2014 memo. Read the rest

For a variety of reasons, most hotels don’t supply toothpaste in rooms. (Here’s an article from Slate that explains why.) And you can’t take a standard-sized tube in carry-on luggage because the toothpaste police at the airport will confiscate it. You can buy a 12 pack of 0.85-ounce tubes of Crest on Amazon for .(For more tips and recommendations, check out a book I co-wrote, called Recomendo) Read the rest

We're rapidly approaching the point where wireless audio is breaking free of its only real stigma: Lackluster sound. There are a few earbuds edging into the market that not only deliver a solid listening experience but do it at an affordable price.Schatzii's BULLET 2.0 Bluetooth Stereo Earbuds are definitely earning some high marks in this new school.The buds connect to a range of listening devices through Bluetooth 4.1 technology, allowing for an uninterrupted playlist on your workout or commute. The hi-fi sound is already surprisingly good, but the buds make it immersive with CVC active noise suppression and echo cancellation. There's also a built-in mic when you need to take calls on the fly.The charging case is a problem solver for more than just the earbuds: It packs 2,100 mAh (enough for 12 complete charges) and can even provide power for your smartphone or other devices in a pinch, thanks to the USB ports.You can get the case and earbuds now for $129, a significant price drop that's more than 55% off the original MSRP. Read the rest

Google denies claim of illegal and retaliatory firing

The historical excuse for pharma monopolists who conspired to rig prices on insulin was that hardly anyone paid full price -- everyone got their life-saving, non-optional medicine through health plans that negotiated a knock-down price.That was the line between 2012 and 2016, as median per-patient insulin costs rose 99%, to $5,705/year.But now prices are even higher -- and more and more people are paying full cost, as the monopolized health insurance sector has reduced benefits to insured people. The average insured person with diabetes is paying 60% more than they were in 2012 (and the rest of the increase is being borne by Medicare and employers).People with diabetes are increasingly rationing their insulin, a practice that can be lethal.Today, there are three insulin manufacturers: Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi. The manufacturers make the drug, set the price and negotiate with pharmacy benefit managers, the companies hired by health insurers to manage prescription-drug benefits for beneficiaries.“It comes down to pure greed,” Patterson said. “They are lining their pockets. They are making a profit.”When questioned about their costs, the insulin manufacturers told The Dispatch that the majority of patients don’t pay the list price for the drug. 'It comes down to pure greed': Insulin prices double, causing many people with diabetes to turn to extremes [Megan Henry/The Columbus Dispatch](via Naked Capitalism)(Image: Melissa Johnson, CC BY, modified) Read the rest

When Gerry Cotten, founder of the QuadrigaCX cryptocurrency exchange, died mysteriously in India at the age of 30 he left behind an encrypted laptop with up to $250 million of customer deposits locked up on it. Without a password, those funds are irretrievable (at least until quantum supremacy becomes a real thing). Now, according to Ars Technica, those customers want proof Cotten is really dead -- and not sipping piscines on the deck of a yacht anchored in Gustavia Harbor -- by having his body exhumed and positively identified.From the article:Lawyers representing exchange clients on Friday asked Canadian law enforcement officials to exhume his body and conduct an autopsy "to confirm both its identity and the cause of death," the NYT said. The letter cited "the questionable circumstances surrounding Mr. Cotten's death and the significant losses" suffered in the incident. The letter went on to ask that the exhumation and autopsy be completed no later than "spring of 2020, given decomposition concerns."Quadriga didn't disclose Cotten's death until January 14, in a Facebook post, more than a month after it was said to have occurred. The QuadrigaCX platform went down on January 28, leaving users with no way to withdraw funds they had deposited with the exchange. Clients have taken to social media ever since to claim the death and loss of the password were staged in an attempt to abscond with their digital coin. Read the rest

Well, there it is at last, the silver lining to climate change. Turns out it's so hot in Australia, you can totally roast a delicious hunk of meat on top of your car.In Australia, a guy roasted some tasty pork on the roof of his Datsun on a scorching hot day. The not funny part about this is: climate change has led to catastrophic wildfires throughout Australia, and one could argue all sorts of things about factory farm meat production and anthropogenic -- oh ffs nevermind here's how he cooked the pork roast.Exerpt from Reuters:Stu Pengelly placed the slab of pork in a baking tin on the car seat of his red Datsun Sunny in Perth, Western Australia, for around 10 hours.“It worked a treat!” he said in a Facebook post with pictures of the cooked meat cut into slices to demonstrate its doneness.Pengelly also gave the temperature as it increased throughout the day, culminating in a “staggering 81 degrees Celsius inside temperature” (177.8 degrees Fahrenheit) at 1 p.m. What's next?Pengelly told a reporter he wants to try cooking roast beef in his Datsun.“A quiche would cook in 2 hours, I reckon,” he said. Read the full story at Reuters:Done in a Datsun: Man cooks roast pork in car during Australian heatwave[GIFs courtesy of Fox's “The Simpsons”] Read the rest

Dten is a "certified hardware provider" for Zoom, making smart screens and whiteboards for videoconferencing; a Forescout Research report reveals that Dten committed a string of idiotic security blunders in designing its products, exposing its customers to video and audio surveillance, as well as theft of presentations and whiteboard data.Among the mistakes Forescout identified:* Storing customer data in unsecured Amazon web buckets; all you needed to do to spy on a customer's stored data was to change the customer ID in the standard URL provided to each customer;* Not using SSL to encrypt data in transit, making it trivial to eavesdrop on conferencesForescout identified five bugs in July. As of today, Dten has fixed three of them.Dten told Wired: "We take customer privacy and security very seriously."The researchers also discovered two ways that an attacker on the same network as DTEN devices could manipulate the video conferencing units to monitor all video and audio feeds and, in one case, to take full control. DTEN hardware runs Android primarily, but uses Microsoft Windows for Zoom. The researchers found that they can access a development tool known as "Android Debug Bridge," either wirelessly or through USB ports or ethernet, to take over a unit. The other bug also relates to exposed Android factory settings. The researchers note that attempting to implement both operating systems creates more opportunities for misconfigurations and exposure. DTEN says that it will push patches for both bugs by the end of the year. Read the rest

He was only dreaming of a green Christmas, you guys.In Nashville, Tennessee, an unfortunate gentleman is in jail after authorities, and their K-9 drug sniffing dogs to be precise, smelled some odiferous weed in the dude's luggage. We're talking 80 pounds of dank, says the indictment.Court documents say Tennessee state police caught Somphone Temmeraj, 57, with a quantity of cannabis that measured over 80 pounds (36 kilograms), wrapped up to look like Christmas gifts. The pot bust happened when Temmeraj transited Nashville International Airport on Monday, as AP and others have reported.The officers said they saw Temmeraj pick up the bags and load them onto a cart. Temmeraj allowed officers to search the bags, which were filled with what appeared to be wrapped Christmas gifts. The items were actually filled with vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana weighing 84 pounds (38 kilograms), authorities said.Temmeraj had flown to Nashville from Seattle, the documents state. He was booked into jail and bonded out Tuesday morning, according to online records. It’s unclear whether he had an attorney who could comment on his behalf. Police: Marijuana Christmas gifts sniffed out at airport [apnews.com] Read the rest

Bernie Sanders' record-setting fundraising isn't just notable for how much he raised, it's also notable for how he raised it -- Sanders is the only leading candidate in the Democratic leadership race for 2020 who hasn't taken any money from billionaires.Billionaires have incredible class solidarity and they when they back a politician, it's generally a sign that they perceive a solid return on their investment.I am a donor to both Bernie Sanders's and Elizabeth Warren's campaigns. Sanders, a fierce critic of 2010 Supreme Court "Citizens United v. FEC" decision that allowed for individuals and corporations to give more freely to political campaigns, believes candidates who rely on big-dollar fundraisers are beholden to the interests of wealthy backers. "Why would many, many billionaires be contributing to candidates if they didn't think they were getting something out of it? They're not doing it through the goodness of their hearts," he said.A recent Forbes list found that Sanders was the only candidate among the fields' top tier, which also includes Biden, Buttigieg, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, to not have a single billionaire donor. According to Sanders and his campaign, this means that the senator is the true champion of the working class, relying almost exclusively on small donors while his opponents show open hands to the open wallets of the ultra-wealthy.Bernie Sanders knocks rivals for taking donations from billionaires [Cara Korte/CBS](Image: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA, modified) Read the rest

Scott Budnick (producer of the "Hangover" movies) is embroiled in a complicated feud with an LA homicide cop named Sgt. Richard Biddle; Biddle has pursued his investigation against Budnick by securing an incredibly broad search-warrant to seize his Google data.The warrant seeks:1. All of Budnick's account data (email addresses, connected applications and sites, etc)2. Android info (phone make/model and IMEI, IMSI and phone number)3. All stored "accounts, email accounts, passwords, PIN codes, account names, user names, screen names, remote data storage accounts, credit card/payment data, contact lists, calendar entries, text messages, voice mail messages, pictures, videos, telephone numbers, mobile devices, physical addresses, historical GPS locations, two-step verification information" 4. All calendars, including shared calendars (and whom they are shared with)5. All stored contacts6. "All user documents stored by Google"7. Any records of securities, funds, etc8. All Gmail messages, including metadata like read/unread9. All Google Photo images10. All stored location data11. All Play Store purchases and downloads12. All search history13. All call records, voicemail messages, SMSes14. All Google Wallet/Checkout dataIt is a spectacularly broad warrant -- and also a chilling reminder of how much data Google holds on us.Eye-opening to see what a search warrant for a Google Account actually covers: all your location data, photos, searches, contacts, emails... https://t.co/m7EWpqUS5Y pic.twitter.com/5vtUDV6AlT— Aaron Mendelson (@a_mendelson) December 16, 2019 (Image: Cryteria, CC-BY, modified) Read the rest

Activists from Fight for the Future prowled the halls of Congress in "jumpsuits with phone strapped to their heads conducting live facial recognition surveillance" to "show why this tech should be banned."They worked their way through the Rayburn building (which houses offices for the House of Reps), livestreaming thousands of face scans to Scancongress.com. You can send Scancongress an image of your face and it will tell you if you're among those whose faces were captured.Eventually they were ordered to leave on pain of arrest -- for blocking the hallways, not for scanning faces, which remains legal.We did this to prove a point and to pressure Congress to pass laws to ban facial recognition surveillance, so we’re going to delete all the footage and all the biometric data when we’re done. We also chose our location carefully: inside the capitol where everyone is already under video surveillance. But anyone else could easily do what we did, and right now it’s perfectly legal. A government agency can do this to monitor a marginalized population. A corporation can do it to harvest our biometric data and sell it for profit. A creepy stalker could do it to find their target in a crowd of people.We scanned thousands of faces in DC today to show why facial recognition surveillance should be banned [Fight for the Future](via Beyond the Beyond) Read the rest

AI Dungeon, a vastly open text adventure that used artificial intelligence to generate responses to your commands, is now available as an easy-to-use smartphone app (the web version was clunky). The Verge has more:We tested the iOS version briefly, and although there were a few game-breaking errors, it’s generally as easy to use as you’d want. Responses to each input still take a few seconds to process, which rather slows the experience, but it’s definitely quicker than the web version was, and each interaction with the AI is as surprising (and frequently delightful) as before.There are also helpful tips for newcomers, reminding you to start each of your text commands with a verb, or use quotation marks to indicate when someone is speaking. Read the rest

When Donald Trump and then-Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker announced a plan to give billions of dollars to the notorious Taiwanese sweatshop operator Foxconn to build a super-factory in Wisconsin, knowledgeable people were alarmed. That's because Foxconn has a long history of defrauding governments by promising to build big ambitious factories in their territories, absorbing massive subsidies, then abandoning the project, leaving behind a modest facility, or nothing at all.Despite these misgivings, Walker and his GOP state legislators set about bulldozing Wisconsinites' family homes to make way for the Foxconn factory, guaranteeing ever-larger subsidies even as Foxconn quietly began to scale back its plans and the number of jobs it would create. The total bill rose to $4.1b, even as Foxconn canceled the factory altogether and proposed replacing it with a modest R&D facility primarily staffed by out-of-state researchers, rather than the locals who were footing the bill for Foxconn's massive subsidies.The company went back and forth on its plans for months, putting on a bizarre show to keep alive a plausible claim that Wisconsin would get something in exchange for its generosity. But as the deal attracted more and more scrutiny, it became increasingly obvious that Wisconsin had been foxconned.Now, Foxconn and Tony Evers (the new, Democratic governor of Wisconsin) are renegotiating the deal. Foxconn asked the state to release it from its obligations, without removing the (now $4.5b -- that's $172k/job, assuming Foxconn builds the factory it originally proposed!) guarantee of subsidies, including cash payouts if the company never does enough business in Wisconsin to use the tax-credits it's been promised. Read the rest

A man who chose the no-payment option for a store item was pursued out the door by a relentless employee who apparently holds the quaint notion that transactions involving the exchange of goods should be beneficial to both parties. The ideologically rigid employee got his way this time, but I'm sure the gentleman with the big pickup will be back again before Christmas.A terrible attempt at stealing from r/funny Read the rest

Over at Cool Tools (a site I co-operate) Rusty Blazenhoff talks to Donald Bell about her favorite ice cream scoop: the Thrifty “square” ice cream scoop. Read the rest

This episode of TED-Ed is about Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel, Dune, and why you should read it.A mother and son trek across an endless desert. Wearing special suits to dissipate heat and recycle moisture, the travelers aren’t worried about dying of thirst. Their fears are much greater. Soon, the sound of the desert is drowned out by a hissing: a mound of sand 400 meters long bursts from the desert floor and races towards them. This is the world of “Dune.” Dan Kwartler dives into the epic story.Image: YouTube Read the rest

I'm like, eighty percent certain that this kitty's going to kill whoever it is holding the camera, just as soon as it figures out that it can survive crossing a hallway filled with aluminum foil. Read the rest

“I really hope this shows people that there’s power in community and all it takes is a group of friends to come together and change someone else’s life.”

This video hit YouTube in 2009. The song was originally released in 2006 as a bonus track on Jarvis Cocker's first post-Pulp album. More than a decade later, not much has changed. In light of this month's disastrous election results in the UK, a push is on to bring this 13-year old song back to number one, just in time for Christmas.Ho. Ho. Ho. Read the rest

This video depicts a fish controlling a robot, which is to say the fish is in a tank on wheels and a computer moves it in whichever direction the fish is currently swimming. Here's another one:The start of a revolution from r/AquaticAsFuck Read the rest

Becoming important enough to merit a "hedcut" stippled portrait from the Wall Street Journal used to a be a significant honor. But on Monday, the WSJ announced that all members can now receive a hedcut courtesy of an AI that's been trained over the last year. Along the way, developers ran into some speedbumps. Baldness was one obstacle:“We had to go through and hand-tag over 2,000 photos, including a lot of bald men, so that the machine would learn what baldness is”And so was overconfidence:The most harrowing issue of all was overfitting, which happens when a model fits a limited set of data too closely. In this case, that meant the machine became too satisfied with its artistic ability and began producing terrifying monstrosities like [the portraits seen above].You can learn more about the process and sign up for your own hedcut here. With any luck, someone will post a program a generate monstrous glitchy versions.(Via Gene Park.) Read the rest

Traditional wallets are slowly going the way of the VCR. Modern life has gotten a lot more portable, and the habit of carrying endless reams of business cards and receipts has gotten to be just that: A habit. And an unnecessary one.Even so, people still need a way to tote their cards and cash. For its minimalism and efficiency, the Grid Wallet might be the template for a new lifestyle, free of bulging pockets.The Grid Wallet does a lot with a little. It's made of just two sturdy aluminum plates, and the whole thing is less than a quarter-inch thick. Within that slim frame, it can hold up to 12 credit cards or business cards while a money clip on the back keeps your cash secure.That's not all it keeps secure. The material has a coating that interferes with RFID signals, protecting your cards from wireless theft.The Grid Wallet is already more than 60% off the list price, but you can take an extra 15% off by using the online coupon code MERRYSAVE15. Read the rest

Today I learned (on Conan O'Brien's podcast) that comedian John Mulaney has made a children's musical comedy special for Netflix. What?! Terrific! The show's official description states he and his "kid pals" "tackle existential topics for all ages with catchy songs, comedy sketches and special guests in a nostalgic variety special."On Conan's podcast, he further describes it, "We have a lot of songs about anxieties and fear. There's huge, kind of, Broadway-scale numbers. There's small cameos from beloved people. There's show-stopping cameos from people. And there's lots of little interviews along the way... I cannot explain it well, and I never could pitch it well. And I sometimes couldn't discuss with my collaborators exactly what I was picturing but it is now done... I am more happy with it then I have been with anything I've ever done."*That* is saying a lot coming from Mr. Mulaney. Count me in!John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch will premiere Christmas Eve.Here's its trailer: Read the rest

Writing for PCGamer, Alex Kane takes a long look at the creation of the video game Tie Fighter, where the player becomes an ace in the Imperial Navy between the Battle of Hoth and Battle of Endor. Supposedly, this was Lucas's reaction when he saw the copy on the package:As the story goes, George Lucas was shown the packaging for TIE Fighter in a board meeting shortly after the game had come out and had started performing well financially and earning acclaim. Lucas picked up the box, examined the cover, and then turned it over to read the copy on the back. "'Imperial Navy'?" he said. "There's no navy in Star Wars." A moment later: "Well, I guess it doesn't matter."A key moment in the marketing of the game came when a deal was reached to co-promote the game along the Dodge Neon:"I think what really helped the game is that we were approached by Dodge, the car company," Gleason says. "I wasn't in much of a bargaining position; I didn't have a whole lot to give in return, other than they get to use Star Wars in their advertising. For the Dodge Neon, which was nothing like a sci-fi or futuristic car. It was from Michigan. There was nothing sexy about it; it looked like a family car. But it was a big win, because we couldn't afford to distribute 400,000 demos on our own, or do a TV commercial."With an unlikely marketing companion in Dodge, Gleason got a TIE Fighter demo onto the PCs of thousands of gamers. Read the rest

A symphony in polyester sweaters and feathered mullets, now in splendid 4K. [via Input] Read the rest

In Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, a gentleman's car exploded after he reportedly sprayed "excessive" amount of air freshener and then lit a cigarette. From the BBC News:Gas from the spray ignited, blew out the windscreen and windows and buckled the doors but the man escaped with only minor injuries.Police said the incident in Halifax on Saturday "could've been worse" and warned people to follow safety advice. Read the rest

Arthur C. Clark's short story "Transit of Earth" appeared in the January 1971 issue of Playboy. It's a moving tale of an astronaut stranded on Mars, on the verge of death, waiting to watch the Earth pass in front of the Sun. Above, Clarke's reading of the story as found on his 1978 spoken word LP that also includes "The Nine Billion Names of God" and "The Star."(via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

The US Navy is building a ship that they are naming after a true American hero. Harvey Milk (1930-1978) was an inspiring LGBT activist who in 1978 became the first openly gay elected official in California history. On November 27 1978, Milk, a highly effective member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and mayor George Moscone were assassinated by another city supervisor. But before all that, Milk served in the Navy. That is, until his superiors found out Milk was gay and forced him to resign. From CNN:More than 60 years later, the Navy began construction Friday on the USNS Harvey Milk, a new oiler ship that will resupply fuel to other ships at sea."(This) sends a global message of inclusion more powerful than simply 'We'll tolerate everyone,'" Stuart Milk said at a ceremony in San Diego, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. "(It says) We celebrate everyone."From the San Diego Union-Tribune:Nicole Murray Ramirez, the chairman and executive director of the San Diego International Imperial Court Council, an LGBT organization, was a leader in the push to name a vessel after Milk.“When ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ was lifted, I researched, and one guy picks all these (ship) names — the Secretary of the Navy,” Ramirez said.His organization, which has chapters nationwide, organized a national letter-writing campaign in 2011 to push then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus to name a ship for Milk.image: "Harvey Milk in dress Navy Blue uniform for his brother's wedding in 1954" (CC BY-SA 3.0) Read the rest

If you fly coach, you know that even a short jaunt can seem like an eternity, especially if it's during the wee hours. Cramped quarters and awkward, upright chairs can make sleep almost impossible no matter how many jackets and mini-pillows you stuff under your neck.If you fly even a couple of times a year, it's well worth investing in a decent travel pillow. And the CORI Travel Pillow is one of the best of the bunch.Why you might ask? It all comes down to design.A travel pillow should be more than just a bit of fluff in a tiny case. The CORI is actually three pillows in one: There's a pair of mini-pillows (one long, one short) made of soft-responsive memory foam. Then there's a plush fabric strap that an accommodate both pillows lengthwise - or in any configuration you need. That means you can stack them to fit your shoulders, neck or back at pretty much any angle.The strap also makes it incredibly portable. You can even wear the thing as a mini-scarf if you like.The CORI Travel Pillow is now more than 20% off the retail price for the holidays. Read the rest

"I forced her out because she's corrupt," said Rudy Giuliani, a private citizen who was once Donald Trump's personal lawyer, about America's former ambassador to Ukraine. In this bananas TV segment with Laura Ingraham on Fox News, Rudy then goes on to say of Marie Louise "Masha" Yovanovitch: "She should've been fired if the State Department weren't part of the deep state." Even from Giuliani this is some crazy ass shit.Rudy Giuliani on Yovanovitch: I didn’t need her out of the way, I forced her out because she’s corrupt pic.twitter.com/eLV4onbFkY— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) December 17, 2019Let’s again look at how the SDNY has described the the removal of Yovanovitch. Also, why was a Giuliani associate working to have her removed as alleged in an indictment where the US Gov’t says it was being done “at the request of one or more Ukrainian government officials.” https://t.co/xDzJ4Iaa3Q— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) December 17, 2019 Read the rest

New NYC law to cub vaping takes effect next July, aims to protect teens' health

Well, this is rather bold, isn't it.Today, as Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was returning to Moscow from last week's visit with Donald Trump in the White House, Russian state media aired a segment with this title: “Puppet Master and ‘Agent’—- How to Understand Lavrov’s Meeting With Trump.”Julia Davis at The Daily Beast reports on this rather blunt segment aired today on Russian TV channel Rossiya 1:Vesti Nedeli, a Sunday news show on the same network, pointed out that it was Trump, personally, who asked Lavrov to pose standing near as Trump sat at his desk. It’s almost the literal image of a power behind the throne.More: Yahoo News Read the rest

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has amassed $100 billion in tax-free funds that should have gone to charitable causes, according to a whistleblower who alerted the IRS, reports The Washington Post. The confidential document, received by the IRS on Nov. 21, accuses church leaders of misleading members — and possibly breaching federal tax rules — by stockpiling their surplus donations instead of using them for charitable works. It also accuses church leaders of using the tax-exempt donations to prop up a pair of businesses....https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/mormon-church-has-misled-members-on-100-billion-tax-exempt-investment-fund-whistleblower-alleges/2019/12/16/e3619bd2-2004-11ea-86f3-3b5019d451db_story.htmlImage: CC0 Public Domain Read the rest

It's a Christmas miracle! Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein showed up at court last week wearing a comically baggy suit and shuffling unsteadily with a walker. The very next day he was spotted in a New York department store, casually ambling through the aisles without assistance, loving family in tow. Page Six has the photographic evidence. Read the rest

Gabriella Paiella of GQ presents this excellent oral history of what has come to be known as the Folgers Incest Commercial of 2009. Folgers should remake the commercial and hire the actors who played Cersei and Jaime Lannister.When I first saw the ad, I thought: wait, are they fucking? (Then, every time after that: okay, they’re definitely fucking.) As I would come to learn, I was hardly alone. The reaction to the ad was an example of the internet at its most fun—the phenomenon of collectively realizing that the specific thing that you believed you’ve singularly noticed is actually a widely-held opinion. Memes, articles, and parody videos abounded. It even inspired a genre of vividly-rendered fan fiction known as “Folgerscest.” Read the rest

One Million Moms is an anti-LGBTQ division of the American Family Association, listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. According to its website One Million Moms is "fed up with the filth many segments of our society, especially the entertainment media, are throwing at our children." What does One Million Moms consider filth? Certainly not our pussy-grabbing, thrice-married, cheating-on-his-wife-with-a-porn-star president. They love him to pieces. Here's what they consider filth: a television commercial showing two women celebrating their wedding by kissing. One Million Moms threatened to boycott the Hallmark Channel for airing the commercial, and the poltroons at the network actually pulled the commercial. It didn't take them long to realize the utter stupidity of capitulating to the Sisters of Gilead. In short order Hallmark decided that they liked running the kissing ladies commercials after all and started re-airing them. Now everyone thinks the people over at Hallmark are idiots.Titles Featuring Lesbians Joyfully Existing And Also It’s Christmas Can We Just Let People Love Who They Love🎥 Let It Snow📺 Merry Happy Whatever pic.twitter.com/LTwnHogkoJ— Netflix US (@netflix) December 15, 2019Hallmark will be working with GLAAD to better represent the LGBTQ community across our portfolio of brands. The Hallmark Channel will be reaching out to Zola to reestablish our partnership and reinstate the commercials. pic.twitter.com/p17nJpnjEB— Hallmark (@Hallmark) December 16, 2019Because when people get married, they kiss. I knew that at 3.— The Rise of Bruce Wright (@heybrucewright) December 16, 2019While the ad should never have been pulled in the first place, #Hallmark has done the right thing by apologizing, reinstating the ad, and vowing to do better by working with ⁦@glaad⁩ to become more inclusive of the #LGBTQ community. Read the rest

In my latest podcast (MP3), I continue my serial reading of my novella Party Discipline, which I wrote while on a 35-city, 45-day tour for my novel Walkaway in 2017; Party Discipline is a story set in the world of Walkaway, about two high-school seniors who conspire to throw a "Communist Party" at a sheet metal factory whose owners are shutting down and stealing their workers' final paychecks. These parties are both literally parties -- music, dancing, intoxicants -- and "Communist" in that the partygoers take over the means of production and start them up, giving away the products they create to the attendees. Walkaway opens with a Communist Party and I wanted to dig into what might go into pulling one of those off.Here's part 1 of the reading and here's part 2.We told them they could go home if they didn’t want to risk coming to the Communist party, but we told them that after we told them that they were the only kids in the whole school we trusted enough to invite to it, and made sure they all knew that if they backed out, there’d be no hard feelings—and no chance to change their mind later tonight when they were at a corny party with a bunch of kids instead of making glorious revolution.Every one of them said they’d come.I’d found an all-ages show in Encino that night, two miles from Steelbridge, Antoine’s old job. We got piled into Ubers heading for the club, chatting about inconsequentialities for the in-car cameras and mics, and every one of us paid cover for the club, making sure to use traceable payment systems that would alibi us as having gone in for the night. Read the rest

Mark Robler made a new version of his glitter/stink bomb to give package thieves a joyous surprise. This one's full of interesting bells and whistles, like an audio recording that makes it seem like the police are coming to get them. Read the rest

To millions of end-users, the cloud means convenience. But one major security breach and that convenience isn't worth a thing. That makes cybersecurity professionals one of the most crucial positions in any IT team. Don't believe us? Just look at what the incomes are for those positions with major firms.Needless to say, there's a lot of training involved to qualify for those positions. But the Essential Cloud Security Certification Bundle can get you started with a series of courses that are easy to digest.The information in the package will allow you to build security systems on a range of platforms from the ground up, able to deal with threats both internal and external. By the end of it, you'll be fully ready for the exams that will qualify you in three major cybersecurity certifications: CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional), CCSP (Certified Cloud Security Professional) and AWS Sysop Administrator.In all, the bundle contains over 60 hours of lectures and exercises. Access to the material is only $49 today. Read the rest

McChristian says, "Rather than send/give out Holiday Cards this year, I decided to make punch and assemble Holiday 'kits.' The sleigh and reindeer were models found on Thingiverse, and I designed/printed the evergreen tree and the label." Read the rest

Abbey Winters, the wife of Chattooga County, Georgia's sole county commissioner, was arrested Friday and charged with battery after pouring a drink on a reporter. The reporter had apparently asked her husband, Jason Winters, a difficult question about a trip to France. The drink was named as "soda", but the brand and flavor were not disclosed.The wife of Chattooga County's sole commissioner poured a soda on a reporter's head this morning. The Summerville PD is charging Abbey Winters with simple battery and disorderly conduct. The reporter is Casie Bryant of All On Georgia. Photos courtesy of the Summerville News pic.twitter.com/V3pz6UbWY8— Patrick Filbin (@PatrickFilbin) December 13, 2019Below is embedded video of the public-meeting mayhem, posted by AllOnGeorgia. The victim, AllOnGeorgia reporter Casie Bryant, is out of shot, as is Abbey Winters, but you get the NSFW dialog and the hapless excuses about how she had it coming."I'm sick of it.""She brought it on herself.""She brought it on herself.""Nobody brings that on themself.""By saying he went to France?""Oh, yes, bitch"MUGSHOT RELEASED: NewChannel 9 was provided the mugshot of Abbey Winters. Winters is a Chattooga County Commissioners wife accused of spilling a drink on a reporters head during a budget meeting.MORE HERE: https://t.co/mr1VG1sHsQ pic.twitter.com/0EVQsavmbF— WTVC NewsChannel 9 (@newschannelnine) December 14, 2019 Read the rest

Propublica's meticulously researched and reported story about McKinsey's roles in designing ICE's detention centers, advising ICE to skimp on supervision, food and medical care, is as unimpeachable as all of Propublica's work.Nevertheless, McKinsey released an 800-word statement falsely claiming that Propublica had "mislead readers" with an article that "ignores many of the factual points that we presented." The rebuttal contains many verifiable falsehoods (for example, it repeatedly accuses Propublica of publishing things it did not publish), and several misleading claims.McKinsey is paying to make this article the top Google result for "McKinsey ICE," ensuring that its misleading and false spin is above the factual reporting on its conduct. Propublica has published a detailed, point-by-point rebuttal to McKinsey's spin.Claim:“We did not recommend a reduction in the quality of food or healthcare for detainees.”Response:ProPublica did not report that McKinsey recommended a reduction in the quality of food and medical care. The article reported that McKinsey recommended reducing the amount of money spent on food and medical care. (As noted, the text of the story used the phrase “proposed cuts in spending on food for migrants, as well as on medical care.”)McKinsey did not dispute that prior to publication and does not dispute it now. Neither did Cox, the ICE spokesman.McKinsey Called Our Story About Its ICE Contract False. It’s Not. [Ian McDougall/Propublica] Read the rest

Boing Boing proudly welcomes EST as a sponsor.The Torch L1 by EST Gear is the world’s most versatile flashlight. It features a unique L-shaped design so you can use it hands free as a headlamp or stand-it up with it’s ultra-handy, flat, magnetic bottom. Stick it, clip it, carry it or wear it. This super-bright, waterproof, rechargeable flashlight is capable enough for every adventure and small enough for everyday use.Learn more! Read the rest

The final spot on Boston's city council race for at-large councillors went to Julia Mejia, who edged out her opponent Alejandra St. Guillen by a single vote (22,491 to 22,492). Both were in the running to be the first Latina elected to council.The re-count took three days, and is described as "brutal" by WGBH's Isaiah Thompson.Through the grueling three-day recount, Mejia and St. Guillen were cordial, complimenting each other's campaigns.After St. Guillen conceded the race, it was her campaign Mejia first singled out for praise when she celebrated the victory, at last, in front of City Hall.“I want to thank Alejandra St. Guillen for the hard race that she and her campaign team led,” Mejia told reporters.In an election that will be remembered for a long time, both the winner and loser will have fought a clean fight. Five Takeaways From What Might Have Been The Closest Election In Boston History [Isaiah Thompson/WGBH](Thanks, Kathy Padilla!)(Image: About Labels) Read the rest

Bunnie Huang (previously) is a legendary hardware hacker, and one of his claims to fame are his annual trips to Shenzhen -- China's electronics manufacturing hub -- with groups of MIT students to show them how electronic production actually works in the field, both so they can design projects with that reality in mind, and so that they can get an appreciation of what's happening behind the scenes when they order parts, tool up a line, or otherwise interact with the factories -- tiny and massive -- of the Pearl River Delta.Huang's "Essential Guide to Shenzhen" grew out of that project: it's a soup-to-nuts, practical electronics hacker's guide to navigating Shenzhen, with point-to-translate guides to components, tools and tooling, bargaining, and transport. It's got chapters on spotting counterfeits, tipping, dress codes, local sights, haggling, and "technical Chinese" language notes. There's also a section on travel, visas, border-crossings and Chinese customs.The book is all-but-out-of-print (Huang notes that "the last few physical copies of the book available for purchase are at MJ Maker’s stall on the 2nd floor of the SEG Plaza in Huaqiangbei. His stall number is 2A08; I think he has maybe 10 copies left as of this post. If you do stop by MJ’s booth, say hi for me"), and as the maps are out of date, he doesn't want to bother reprinting it.Instead, he's put the whole book online as a free download (it's Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Sharealike), "so that others can swap out the map pages with something more up-to-date and have a swing at making their own derivative works."As my friend Gavin Zhao once quipped, Chinese is a wonderful language for poetry, but difficult for precise technical communications. Read the rest

In his latest BIG newsletter, Matt Stoller (previously) relates the key moments in the history of private equity, from its roots in the notorious "leveraged buyouts" of the 1980s, and explains exactly how the PE con works: successful, productive business are acquired through debt financing, drained of their cash and assets, and then killed, leaving workers unemployed and with their pension funds looted, and with the business's creditors out in the cold.Private equity's story begins with William Simon, "a mean, nasty, tough bond trader who took no BS from anyone" whose idea of child-rearing was the douse his children with buckets of ice-water to rouse them from bed on weekend mornings. Simon was given senior Treasury appointments under Nixon/Ford, then became America's energy czar during the oil crisis. He was pro-austerity and blocked the bailout of NYC in 1975. Once out of government service, Simon set about to create a Republican "counter-intelligentsia" to swing the party to the right. He ran the influential far-right think-tank the Olin Foundation, and dispersed money to fund law and economics scholars who were devoted to discrediting the New Deal and the idea of any limits on corporate power, all cloaked in "scientific" rhetoric.The darlings of this movement -- Henry Manne, Milton Friedman, Michael Jenson -- promoted the idea of "shareholder capitalism" and the notion that managers have a single duty: to put as much money in the pockets of investors, even at the expense of the business's sustainability or the well-being of its workers. Read the rest

The RV might be winterized and staying put until the spring thaw, but we're not. Now that I have the all clear from my cardiologist, my wife and are are planning a 20-day trip to Morocco. It'll be the first time that either of us has set foot on the African continent: With its French colonial influence and their King's tourist-friendly policies, it seems like a great place to dip our toes in the continent's waters.Plus, it's cities, country side deserts and mountains are absolutely stunning. With out tickets purchased, we're now in the throes of planning our itinerary (which we always tend to keep a bit loosey-goosey.) I'm brushing up on my mediocre French. My partner is taking Darija lessons. I'm taking a HEAT course to polish up my already existing skill set, given that Morocco's neighbors have been a little rambunctious of late. Perhaps most important out of all of our preparations, is the fact that my travel playlist is slowly coming together. I find that having the right music while moving into and out of an adventure helps to set the mood for the whole thing.Tinariwen is a band that's been around for decades. Maybe you've heard of them. They only showed up as a ping on my radar within the last year. originally hails from Mali,From Wikipedia:Tinariwen is a group of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali. The band was formed in 1979 in Tamanrasset, Algeria, but returned to Mali after a cease-fire in the 1990s. Read the rest

Isaac Johnson, 14, of Bloomington, Minnesota, has the world's largest mouth gape. Johnson's 3.67 inch pie hole was recently confirmed to be .21 inches large larger than the gape of the previous record holder, a German fellow named Bernd Schmidt.According to Guinness World Records, Johnson "can fit objects like a baseball and the bottom of a 20 oz soda bottle into his gape." Read the rest