Friday, 30 September 2016

Here's the Donald Trump sex tape

djt

GOP Presidential nominee Donald Trump made a grotesque little cameo appearance in a Playboy softcore porn video released back in 2000. Do not worry, the appearance was very brief and he kept his clothes on. Because Jesus loves you.

“Beauty is beauty, and let’s see what happens with New York,” Trump says in the Playboy video.

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You can watch it right here.

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Trump can't stop lying about Cuba, or threatening the truth-tellers who expose him

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at a Hispanic Town Hall with supporters in Miami, Florida, on September 27. REUTERS

Kurt Eichenwald writes today in Newsweek: “The response of Donald Trump and his staff on September 29 to the revelation that one of his companies illegally violated the Cuban trade embargo during Fidel Castro’s presidency has exposed a growing problem for the Republican nominee: His campaign operation is disorganized and shares Trump’s disdain for facts.”

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There's a "Garbage Pail Kids" Topps card set for the 2016 Presidential Race, and it's pretty great

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Topps has released a 2016 Presidential campaign themed "Garbage Pail Kids" edition. They're updating the series pretty quickly! There's already a Donald Trump vs. Alicia Machado card.

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Mystery man smashes up Apple store

thamp

This video depicts a man in the Dijon Apple store smashing up phones and laptops with a metal ball. Everyone just lets him get on with it, presumably for legal reasons or corporate policy. By the time a mall cop arrives, he's already done.

Here's the sequel, wherein he is detained.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzwLsxrfAhs

Here's part 3, wherein he gets physical with the guards, then runs for it. Sadly for him, he's the center of attention for the whole mall and someone prevents his escape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wkTDBcZ0e4

I wonder if the sunglasses helped him conceal his identity.

POLL: WHY?

• He updated to iOS 10
• He is possessed: the Perfectly Spherical Kilogram of Silicon hungers for souls
• Gamergate

California now requires conviction before civil asset forfeiture

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California police departments' license to steal cash from innocent people has been restricted, thanks to a new bill signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown. Let's hope the federal government follows suit.

Nick Sibilla of The Institute for Justice says:

Since 1994, California state law has required a criminal conviction before real estate, vehicles, boats and cash under $25,000 could be forfeited to the government. But those requirements are completely missing under federal law. So California police could instead partner with a federal agency, take the property under federal law, and reap up to 80 percent of the proceeds.

To fix this, the new law requires a criminal conviction before agencies can receive forfeiture payments from the federal government on forfeited real estate, vehicles, boats and cash valued at under $40,000.



Everything Change: free anthology of prizewinning climate fiction

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Arizona State University's Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative held a short story contest to write "climate fiction," judged by Kim Stanley Robinson and others; now the best stories have been collected in a free downloadable ebook that includes a forward by Robinson, and an interview with Paolo Bacigalupi. (more…)



Minimalist leather slim front pocket wallet

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It's time for me to get a new wallet. I just ordered this "minimalist leather slim front pocket wallet" for $5.59 (using coupon code 5TEE8S7P on Amazon). I don't know when the code will expire. I'll give this a proper review after I've used it for a while.

Woman Rebel – Peter Bagge's graphic bio of the controversial founder of Planned Parenthood

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See sample pages from this book at Wink.

Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story
by Peter Bagge
Drawn and Quarterly
2013, 104 pages, 6.8 x 9.1 x 0.7 inches (hardcover)
$15 Buy a copy on Amazon

When I think of Peter Bagge, I think of his work in Hate or Neat Stuff, both comics about teenage angst and living in suburban malaise. Therefore, when I saw he wrote Woman Rebel, a biography of Margaret Sanger (the woman responsible for Planned Parenthood), I was curious. Once I started reading, it made perfect sense. Discontent, anger, and frustration with the status quo translate perfectly to the life of Ms. Sanger. Margaret Sanger is most famously known as the founder of Planned Parenthood and for her endless fight for women’s access to birth control in the early 20th century. The book highlights key moments in Sanger’s life – it starts with her childhood (she was born in the 1880s to Irish immigrants) and takes us through her early work as a nurse, mother, and eventual activist.

What makes this biography unique are Bagge’s illustrations. His faces, especially the contorted, frustrated ones that work in Bagge’s earlier work (say, on his teenage anti-hero Buddy Bradley) cross over really well. There is a lot of sadness and anger in Sanger’s life, whether it was her mother (who had 18 pregnancies in 25 years) or Sanger herself facing the many smug and misogynistic critics attempting to halt her progress. There is a lot of emotion in this book, the same that made Sanger persevere.

After reading Woman Rebel, I went online to learn more about Sanger and was immediately slammed by my own ignorance as to what a controversial person she is today. Aside from any expected generic criticism of Planned Parenthood, she is described as a "racist eugenicist” and guilty of “black genocide.” Bagge addresses this controversy in his afterword “Why Sanger?” He delves into how she advocated birth control to women of the KKK (that’s right - the KKK - another reason why this book is full of surprises) as well as black women living in Harlem. Bagge gives lots of examples of how her legacy has been dissected over time, and Bagge’s description of her critics is great: “It’s an irony festival!"

Regardless of how you feel about Margaret Sanger’s legacy, this book is an illustrated education into a woman, that as Bagge puts it, “lived the lives of ten people,” and is directly responsible for the access women have to reproductive health care in 2016. The only actual criticism of this book for me is that I wanted more. The book could be twice the length, and dive deeper into more details of her life, because it seems they are endless. – Amy Lackpour



Easy way to make a self-balancing gyroscopic wheel

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A YouTuber who goes my the moniker De Facto has instructions for building a gyroscopic wheel using a little DC motor, a 9V battery, a CD, a hard disk platter, some cork, and a dab of hot glue. Nifty!

Man accidentally launches carbonated beverage bottle

Watch what happens when this gentleman throws a carbonated beverage bottle on the concrete.

Wait for it...

See also:

When you grow a pumpkin inside a plastic mold, this is what happens

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“What happens when you grow a pumpkin inside a plastic mold,” shared by IMGURian "WuTangClams."

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Frisky robot opens door

yegooa

Meet Ghost Robotics' adorable Minitaur quadruped robot.

Here's an excerpt from IEEE Spectrum's interview with Avik De and Gavin Kenneally, who are on the development team at Professor Dan Koditschek’s lab at the University of Pennsylvania:

How the heck did you manage to get Minitaur to open that door?

De: I don’t know if it’s clear from the video, but there’s a lot going on. The robot is jumping, it perceives that the door handle is there, retracts the leg, and manipulates the door handle.

Kenneally: Just to go over it in a little bit more detail: It jumps up on its front two legs, doing a handstand, and then jumps. The back left leg is waiting to feel the door handle, so it kind of sticks that leg out and waits until it senses contact. Again, all the sensing is through the motors, there’s no current sensors or force sensors. Once it perceives contact with the door knob, it retracts the leg, moves it over a little bit, and then extends it, and that actually all happens within 50 milliseconds, so it’s incredibly fast. And then once it’s done that, the other back leg, which is now also in the air, pushes against the door to crack it open a little bit, and it also helps push the robot so it pitches back down toward the ground, where it then retracts the leg back and catches itself before it falls. The door opening and stair/fence climbing were done with help from T. Turner Topping. We've just submitted a paper on this these behaviors, and Avik has a bound paper forthcoming as well.

Robot opening a door like a cat


What has Trump lied about today, chart edition, Sept 30

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Part of an ongoing series by weird chart-maker Scott Bateman; link to today's edition.

Finally got my Emacs setup just how I like it

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JWZ has discovered the greatest Google Image search. (more…)



R2-D2 French press pot

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Thinkgeek's $40 R2D2 French press coffee-pot starts shipping in early November, in time for Xmas delivery. Holds 32oz, BPA-free, and the carafe is dishwasher safe. (more…)



Electronic voting machines suck, the comprehensive 2016 election edition

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It's been thirteen years since we started writing here about the shenanigans of the electronic voting machine industry, who were given a gift when, after the contested 2000 elections, Congress and the Supreme Court signaled that elections officials had to go and buy new machines. (more…)



Shadow Regulation: the secret laws that giant corporations cook up in back rooms

shadow

The winner-take-all economy has turned virtually every industry into a cartel (four record labels, two cable companies, two phone operating systems, etc) who operate without fear of competition regulation, allowing representatives of a few companies to gather in closed-door meetings to cook up operating agreements that end up having the force of law. (more…)



Wells Fargo illegally repossessed 413 service members' cars

repo

Besides stealing money from customers by creating fake accounts and then charging them fees, Wells Fargo is in trouble for repossessing 413 cars owned by US military service members. The bank did so without a court order, which violates federal law. From CNN:

The Justice Department said the illegal repossessions took place from 2008 to 2015. The first complaint came from an Army National Guardsman in North Carolina who said the bank seized his car while he was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan.

Wells Fargo then auctioned his car and tried to collect a balance of $10,000 from his family, the Justice Department said.

The bank will pay $10,000 to each of the affected service members, plus lost equity in the cars with interest, and repair their credit.



The Slider: an alluring, machined-metal worry-stone

worry

Machinist/sculptor Christ Bathgate (previously) can't keep up with demand for his latest "pocket sculpture," a kinetic piece that's designed to be soothing to fidget with. (more…)



EFF to court: don't let US government prosecute professor over his book about securing computers

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In July, the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Dr Matthew Green, a Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute Assistant Professor of Computer Science; now the US government has asked a court to dismiss Dr Green's claims. A brief from EFF explains what's at stake here: the right of security experts to tell us which computers are vulnerable to attack, and how to make them better. (more…)



On a Sunbeam, a science fictional webcomic

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On a Sunbeam is a science fiction webcomic from competitive figure skater/comics creator Tillie Walden. Next year, Firstsecond will publish a memoir about her 12 years as a skater; if On a Sunbeam is representative of her work, it's a book to watch for.

Matt Furie on the experience of having his Pepe the Frog character hijacked by white supremacists

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Before Pepe the Frog was a hate symbol used to promote white supremacists and Donald Trump, he was a sweet webcomics character in Matt Furie's gently weird webcomic Boy's Club. (more…)



Portland made a fantastic video to woo Japanese tourists

odnarotoop

"Odnarotoop" is Portland spelled backwards with Japanese pronunciation. It's also the name of this Terry Gilliam-esque video with a catchy song.

Here's the English translation of the lyrics:

These are the mountains that rise in the distance
And this is the river that runs right beside us
And these are the bridges that always connect us in
Odnaraotoop

These are the streets where we meet up for breakfast
and maybe some ice cream or a few dozen donuts
and these are the places we drink when we’re finished in
Odnarotoop

Odnarotoop, Odnarotoop
everyone’s open, so do what you want to in Odnarotoop

And this is the music we play in our basements
and our in the street where the city can hear us
so sing right along if you’re planning to join us in Odnarotoop

Odnarotoop, Odnarotoop
everyone’s open, so do what you want to in Odnarotoop

This is the coffee we drink in the morning
and this is the treehouse my neighbor is building
everyone’s open and ready to greet you in Odnarotoop

And these are the bikes that we like to ride naked
and this is the art that we’re all busy making
everyone’s open so do what you want to in Odnarotoop

[via Tofugu]

Kickstarting a second volume of Hugo Award nominees

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Following on last year's successful campaign to produce a giant anthology of Hugo Award-nominated short fiction, David Steffen is once again raising funds for a second volume. (more…)



Arkansas lawmaker who passed law protecting making videos of arrests arrested for videoing an arrest

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Officer Jeff Thompson of the Little Rock Police Department arrested Arkansas state Representative John Walker for recording their treatment of a black man who had been put in handcuffs during a traffic stop. (more…)



Austerity kills the last steam-powered loom in the world

animation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtALjfYav0k

Lancashire Council is shutting down five of its museums, including Burnley's Queen Street Mill Museum, widely known for its appearances in the King's Speech, home to the last steam-powered mill in the world. (more…)



A journalist on lessons from his Theranos takedown

theranos

Nick Bilton's analysis of his Theranos exposé shows how bad actors like Elizabeth Holmes can misuse employees and government regulators, but he is especially critical of access journalism practiced in the business trades. It's a great read for anyone who writes as part of their job. (more…)



Lin-Manuel Miranda makes a one-act musical out of a single run-on Trump sentence

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It's got a catchy beat, I could dance to it! (And Peggy!) (more…)



Stormtrooper helmet with thermochromic coating

thermal-stormtrooper

YouTuber SolarColorDust likes to coat things in thermochromic dust (the kind in mood rings and some thermometers). Here's a stormtrooper helmet. (more…)



Hundreds of cops misuse databases yearly, says report

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An investigation by the Associated Press found 675 police officers were jailed or disciplined for misusing police databases from 2013 to 2015, and that's just the ones who were caught.

Sadie Gurman and Eric Tucker used record requests to gather data on the scope of the problem.

Criminal-history and driver databases give officers critical information about people they encounter on the job. But the AP's review shows how those systems also can be exploited by officers who, motivated by romantic quarrels, personal conflicts or voyeuristic curiosity, sidestep policies and sometimes the law by snooping. In the most egregious cases, officers have used information to stalk or harass, or have tampered with or sold records they obtained.

Among cops accused of database abuse was Gilberto Valle, aka "cannibal cop," but his conviction was overturned after he claimed he was authorized to use it. Valle came into the public eye after posting online about his interest in kidnapping and eating women.

460x AP: Across US, police officers abuse confidential databases

Adorable doglike robot can climb fences and open doors

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The Ghost Minitaur is the latest iteration of terrifyingly cute agile legged robots. I for one welcome our doglike robot overlords. (more…)



Controversial road diet reduced accidents, say scientists

road-diet

Los Angeles is a car town, so it's controversial to promote "road diets," a form of roadway reconfiguration intended to slow cars and reduce collisions, especially with cyclists and pedestrians. Scientists reviewed data from one controversial road diet and found that crashes were cut in half, and unsafe speed crashes dropped to zero. (more…)



Rosetta space probe sends last photo before striking comet to complete its mission

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Here's the last image from Europe's space probe Rosetta, taken 50m from the surface of 67P. (more…)



The Rocky Horror Picture Show and four decades of queer sci fi punk

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Here's the Boing Boing Store's monthly best seller list

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#1. A-Audio Legacy Noise Cancelling Headphones with 3-Stage Technology

 

The A-Audio Legacy Headphones are the Boing Boing Store's best seller this month, and it’s easy to see why. With 40mm drivers, powerful circuitry, and memory foam padded circumaural ear cups, these are clearly super high-quality headphones. Plus, the patented 3-Stage Technology lets you toggle between passive audio, bass-enhanced, and active noise cancelling modes, so you can always get the best listening experience. These headphones retail for $299, but you can get them for 73% off ($79.99) in our store.

#2. BASICS Wallet

This Kickstarter hit won over Boing Boing readers because of its super slim, durable design. It holds everything you need while still being easy to carry—and it’s made from premium knitted elastic, so it’ll withstand all the wear and tear you can put it through. Keep up to 15 cards inside comfortably, and even keep cash, coins, or keys in the specialized built-in pocket. Right now, the BASICS wallet is just $18.99.

#3. FRESHeBUDS Pro Magnetic Bluetooth Earbuds

With the arrival of the iPhone 7, it's no surprise that the FRESHeBuds Bluetooth earbuds are selling out fast. These are some of the best Bluetooth earbuds we've found: they deliver up to a 10 hour battery life and charge fully in just 90 minutes. The best feature is that you can automatically connect them to your phone via Bluetooth by pulling them apart. When you’re done listening, place the earbuds back together, and the connection will turn off. They’re totally waterproof, and are designed to stay in your ears no matter what. Get them for just $39.95 in the store.



Thursday, 29 September 2016

Women competitors must wear hijabs at chess world championship, oddly awarded to Iran

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If you thought soccer's world cup being awarded to baking-hot Qatar marked the zenith of sporting corruption, give FIDE a chance: the international chess federation's forthcoming world championship is headed to Iran, and women players must wear the hijab to compete. UK tabloids quote leading women chess players as threatening to quit the tournament rather than obey.

US women's champion Nazi Paikidze said: ‘It is absolutely unacceptable to host one of the most important women's tournaments in a venue where, to this day, women are forced to cover up with a hijab.

‘I understand and respect cultural differences. But, failing to comply can lead to imprisonment and women's rights are being severely restricted in general. It does not feel safe for women from around the world to play here.’

She added: ‘If the situation remains unchanged, I will most certainly not participate in this event.’

It's insane, but entirely in keeping with FIDE's brainier-than-thou shiftiness, to think that Tehran is a good place to host the key event on their highly-politicized mind game's calendar. For starters, there's a current U.S. government travel warning telling citizens not to go there at all.

(I would go, but wear a Burka)

Atomic Chemistry Set - cool Kickstarter project

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The Atomic Chemistry Set is a "modern chemistry set - 47 chemicals, glassware, lab apparatus, and insane chemical reactions." It looks great!

AT-AT cardigan

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70% cotton/30% nylon, sized S-XXL, $40 from Thinkgeek.

America's War on Creepy Clowns leads to 12 arrests in various states

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“They just kept coming, and coming, and coming, across multiple states. Clowns in vans. Clowns in the woods. Clowns lurking in the shadows. Clowns chasing people or doing crimes.”

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Pac-Man joystick contains 12 classic games, costs $8

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Lately my family has been going to the Neon Retro video game arcade in Pasadena, CA. They have a bunch of very nicely restored arcade games. It costs $10 a hour and all the games are set to free play. I just found out about this Pac-Man Connect-and-Play. You can buy it for as little as $8 (including shipping) on Amazon. It's got 12 built-in games including:

  • Pac-Man
  • Pac-Man Plus
  • Bosconian
  • Galaxian
  • Mappy
  • Super Pac-Man
  • Galaga
  • Dig Dug
  • New Rally X
  • Pac & Pal
  • Xevious

I wonder if anyone has modded this with a real arcade joystick. That would be a great project for John Park.

Fragments of Horror – Wonderfully creepy stories that are as weird as they are original

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Fragments of Horror
by Junji Ito
Viz Media
2015, 224 pages, 5.8 x 8.2 x 0.8 inches (hardcover)
$12 Buy a copy on Amazon

Fragments of Horror is a collection of eight wonderfully grotesque and creepy short stories. A seemingly bright and pretty architecture student terrorizes a family while having a bizarre relationship with their house. A boy tries to hold his body together after cheating on his girlfriend. The number one fan of a novelist finds herself in a sick situation trapped in the writer’s basement. A young woman who just eloped can’t understand why her new husband won’t come out from under his futon covers.

Written by horror manga artist Junji Ito, whose influences include H.P. Lovecraft, the stories are as weird as they are original, while the art is crisp and expressive. What I love is the way these stories, set in modern Japan, are about seemingly normal lives that take a twisted turn into the bowels of darkness. They remind me of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes, the ones that start off in a stylish, mid-century modern house or office where sharp-looking people go about their ordinary lives… until a crack in normality suddenly appears, the creep factor sets in, and they enter the twilight zone. My only regret is that there aren’t more stories here, but fortunately Ito isn’t new to the genre and has many other titles that I’ll be picking up soon. – Carla Sinclair



Watch Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf get raked over the coals by Congress

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Here's two hours of Democratic and Republican congresspeople not taking any weaselly bullshit from disgraced Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf.

In September 2016, Wells Fargo was issued a combined total of $185 million in fines for creating over 1.5 million checking and savings accounts and 500,000 credit cards that its customers never authorized. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued $100 million in fines, the largest in the agency's five-year history, along with $50 million in fines from the City and County of Los Angeles, and $35 million in fines from the Office of Comptroller of the Currency. The scandal was caused by an incentive-compensation program for employees to create new accounts. It led to the firing of nearly 5,300 employees and $5 million being set aside for customer refunds on fees for accounts the customers never wanted.

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Things I Miss: When MTV was cool

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On August 1st, 1981 the world changed and MTV launched. With a bunch of unprofessional VJs who could sometimes barely cue up tapes MTV went through a lot of growth and changes, from Yo! MTV Raps to Beavis and Butthead, there was a time MTV spoke to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAD6Obi7Cag

I'll never forget the Remote Control theme either. MTV lost me as soon as the reality tv stuff started...

https://youtu.be/_RKamrCuwEE?t=31s

They also knew how to run a Presidential campaign.

https://youtu.be/yBG6GVVNtkE

After School Satan Club gets approval in Portland

satanic-kids

On October 19, students at Sacramento Elementary School in Portland will be able to attend the After School Satan Club, which will focus "on science and rational thinking."

From CBS News:

In August, [Chapter co-head Finn] Rezz told us that the After School Satan Club will promote "benevolence and empathy for everybody." That mission, he said, is in direct contrast to something called "the Good News Club."

The Good News Club is an after-school club put on by the Child Evangelism Fellowship, "a Bible-centered organization composed of born-again believers whose purpose is to evangelize boys and girls with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and to establish (disciple) them in the Word of God and in a local church for Christian living."