Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren: "During the campaign, Donald Trump told the American people that he was going to change Washington by taking on Wall Street. Donald Trump’s choice for Treasury scretary, Steve Mnuchin, is just another Wall Street insider. That is not the type of change that Donald Trump promised to bring to Washington – that is hypocrisy at its worst. After his bank pocketed billions in taxpayer dollars from the bailout, Mnuchin moved on to make a fortune running another bank that aggressively foreclosed on families still reeling from the crisis. This pick makes clear that Donald Trump wants to cater to the same Wall Street executives that have hurt working families time and again." (Images: Bernie Sanders, AFGE/CC-BY; Elizabeth Warren, Tim Pierce/CC-BY)
Wednesday 30 November 2016
Sanders and Warren issue joint statement slamming Trump's new finance industry alligator for his private DC swamp
Trumpism in Gambia: "marbles" election sparks internet shutdown
Deji writes, "Gambia is a small country but this story is pretty crazy. The president, who is seeking his 6th term, is using Trump rhetoric surrounding the 'rigging of elections.' People are voting by using marbles. Meanwhile, opposition activists and journalists have been arrested -- and the government STILL shut off the internet. It seems the president has lost his marbles." (more…)
U.S. ethics office tweets sarcastically at Trump on his business conflicts
It's come to this, folks. The office of the United States that oversees ethics in government is sending sarcastic tweets to president-elect Donald J. Trump. Yes, he of the still unreleased tax returns, the many conflicts of interest, the recent $25 million fraud settlement, and the late-night Twitter wars.
Interesting bobblehead collection in car
Heather videoed this charming collection of solar-powered bobbleheads.
Realistic Pokemon by Artist Joshua Dunlop
A series of realistic illustrations focused on the zoology and taxonomy of Pókemon by Joshua Dunlop.
A Volkswagen microbus tent, for camping or just hanging out
After briefly scrambling every available neuron my brain had to offer, this VW Van shaped tent makes perfect sense.
You wanted to go camping in your VW camper, but it wouldn't start! Instead you take your VW sized tent, authentic to a 1965 T1, and cram on in!
I love camping in my VW Vanagon Westy.
Zapping the brain with magnetic pulses boosts libido
In a curious study, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles showed that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) -- altering brain activity by zapping specific regions with magnetic pulses -- can apparently increase people's libido, at least briefly. Neuroscientist Nicole Prause and her colleagues targeted the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (at the left temple), a region involved in reward-seeking. New Scientist explains the curious protocol used by the researchers:
...A vibrator was either connected to a sheath that the penis goes in or a small hood that fits over the clitoris. Electrodes on each participant’s head measured the strength of their brain’s alpha waves, which are weaker when people are more sexually aroused.
During the experiment, 20 people were given TMS for about two minutes, designed to either excite or inhibit the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Next, each volunteer was taken to a room where the EEG electrodes were placed on their head. They were then left to attach the vibrator themselves.
Finally, each participant carried out a task that involved pressing a button as fast as possible when shapes appeared on a screen. Depending on how quick they were, they were given a genital buzz lasting between half a second and five seconds – but only after a pause.
Their brainwaves were recorded during this waiting period. “They know they’re about to be sexually stimulated, but it hasn’t actually happened yet,” says Prause. It is the closest analogue for measuring desire in the lab, she adds.
As predicted, after excitatory TMS, participants’ alpha waves were weaker – suggesting they were more sexually aroused – than after inhibitory TMS. The team couldn’t measure any changes to people’s sex lives, as the effects of a single session of TMS are short-lived.
"Zap to the brain alters libido in unique sex study" (New Scientist)
Trump to avoid "appearance" of business conflicts
Today President-Elect Trump took to Twitter in an attempt to assure the world he will not let it look like he is making money off the Presidency.
Via the New York Times:
Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a liberal nonprofit group that promotes ethics in government, said: “Unless his solution is to sell the business outside the family and put the proceeds in a blind trust, he’s not really doing anything to solve the problem. Just because you say something on Twitter doesn’t make it so.”
It remains unclear what the president-elect’s plan will look like, but simply removing Mr. Trump from operational, day-to-day control of business decisions still could allow him to benefit financially from payments made to his companies by foreign governments, which may be prohibited by the so-called emoluments clause of the Constitution, Mr. Eisen said.
And Mr. Trump’s Twitter posts said nothing about whether his children — who serve as advisers on his presidential transition committee — would continue to have roles in his administration.
If the business is run by his children, they must be entirely separated from government operations, Mr. Eisen and Mr. Painter said. That means they could not participate in meetings with world leaders, like the prime minister of Japan, as Ivanka Trump did this month.
“Without an ethics firewall that is set up at once and continues into the administration, scandal is sure to follow,” their statement said.
Aides to Mr. Trump did not immediately respond to requests for more detail. Reince Priebus, who will be the White House chief of staff, said on the MSNBC program “Morning Joe” that he was not ready to provide any more information about the legal discussions.
Behold, the short-lived, wonderful 19th century Waverley Type-Writer
Typewriter historian Martin Howard (previously) writes, "I was able to pick up a rare and exquisite Waverley typewriter (1896) this summer in Scotland and have just the other day posted it to my website all cleaned and ready to show." (more…)
Free e-copy of Sinclair Lewis' "It Can't Happen Here"
Sinclair Lewis' chilling political novel of a journalist's struggle against a fascist regime is available free via Feedbooks.
Boing Boing's 2016 Gift Guide: Gadgets
A staggering array of gadgetry gets posted to Boing Boing every year, which makes picking just some of the stuff seem like a big job. But it's easy when you just ask yourself: what made our lives better? What looks fun? Here's a few dozen tech toys that generated laughs, light and lovely smoothies.
Most of the links here include Amazon Affiliate codes; this helps us make ends meet at Boing Boing, the world's greatest neurozine. Don't miss our favorite books from 2016, too (more…)
This week in the bloids
We may be living in a "post-truth” culture where feelings trump facts (and Trump ignores facts) but the tabloids have been living there for years, and this week’s tabloid flights of fantasy are no different.
“Drugs tearing Keith & Nicole Apart,” claims the ‘National Enquirer’ in an exposé about Nicole Kidman and husband Keith Urban - except the story is about an alleged former drug dealer’s “fears” that Urban is “teetering on the brink of a devastating relapse.” In other words Kieth is still straight and sober as far as the Enquirer knows, and a dubious source who admits not seeing Urban for 15 years is worried. Post-truthism at its finest.
As is the ‘Enquirer’ exclusive proclaiming: “Prince Harry Cross-Dressing Disaster!” Has Britain’s most politically incorrect Royal taken to fishnets and stilettos? No such luck. Though the ‘Enquirer’ claims that Harry is “caught in a shocking cross-dressing scandal,” actually it’s his girlfriend, American actress Meghan Markle, whose “brother" is revealed in photos wearing a dress and fake breasts. Actually it’s Markle’s mustachioed half-brother, and the photo clearly shows he’s wearing the dress for a lark, not as some lifestyle statement. There’s no scandal, and no way that Prince Harry is somehow entangled in it.
“Drugs Driving Kanye Insane!” screams another ‘Enquirer’ headline, claiming that the singer's hospitalization for “exhaustion” was sparked when “sky-high on booze and a cocktail of drugs.” Based on what? A source claims: “He’s got big problems!” True, but that doesn’t necessarily make his breakdown drug-related. Where are the facts? Post-truthism has been prevalent in recent political coverage, and this week’s tabloids continue that laissez-faire approach. “Hillary, Bill & Chelsea Indicted!” screams the front page of the ‘Globe.’ What? Did you miss that story in the New York Times or Washington Post? That’s because the Clintons haven’t been indicted. Period. “Clinton Clan’s Going to Prison!” reads the headline above the story claiming the former First Family face “federal fraud and bribery charges” for allegedly using Clinton Foundation funds to finance their own lavish lifestyles. There are certainly serious questions for the Clintons to answer, but predicting the future because of an editorial political stance should hardly be a reporter’s guiding star.
“Muslim Spies in Obama’s CIA!” proclaims the ‘Enquirer’ cover, alleging that 55 “double agents” have been found within the spy agency. Setting aside for a moment the accuracy of this claim, the ‘Enquirer’ seems to have forgotten that these alleged traitors have been uncovered on President Obama’s watch, and that our current president may be happy knowing that he can feed these spies misinformation and keep them isolated. Instead, the ‘Enquirer’ seems to think that this is president-elect Donald Trump’s triumph, and reports: “He’s ready to crush them!” CIA officials allegedly gave Trump a report code-named “Deep Cleanse” designed to flush out double-agents, and a source explains: “They’ve been working on it for months.” In other words, Obama’s administration has been working on it for months. But the Trump-loving ‘Enquirer’ could never praise Obama, so their headline proclaims: “Trump’s Islamic Spy Attack Plan Is A Go!” It’s revisionist history before it even happens - quite a neat trick.
Convicted killer and legendary “wall of sound” record producer Phil Spector “has only six weeks to live” claims the ‘Enquirer.’ Let the countdown begin! Meanwhile, the last time I looked Nick Nolte was still alive, even though the ‘Enquirer’ gave him four weeks to live way back in July. What’s taking him so long?
Among other fact-challenged reports, the ‘Enquirer’ claims that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s adopted sons Maddox and Pax may have to be returned to their biological parents after the celebrity couple’s split, Barack and Michelle Obama are divorcing, and Melissa McCarthy’s marriage is on the rocks because her husband Ben was seen talking with Jennifer Aniston, while the ‘Globe’ claims that Caitlyn Jenner is drowning “in a sea of booze.” Intriguing stories, lacking any evidence, but doubtless written because they just feel right, and that’s what’s important in modern journalism.
Fortunately we have the crack investigative team at ‘Us’ magazine to tell us that Busy Philipps wore it best, Katheryn Winnick (Who she, Ed?) carries mascara, fluffy socks and a Costco card in her Cambridge Satchel Company tote, that Elizabeth Hurley “used to want to be a nun,” and that the stars are just like us: they shop, play soccer, eat nachos and snap selfies. Revelatory, as usual.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are “under pressure,” claims ‘Us’ mag’s cover, stating the obvious, while ‘People’ magazine brings us “Kennedy Secrets” and “What Jackie Really Knew,” revealing nothing that we didn’t know before.
As ever, the ‘National Examiner’ brings us word that alien life is trying to contact Earth, under the headline: “Scientists See the Light, And It’s Coming From E.T.!” It goes on to explain that “mysterious signals from the stars may prove aliens are trying to contact us!” Indeed, light pulses have been detected in the distant universe, which the ‘Examiner’ reports “looks like signals from extraterrestrial intelligence.” Or perhaps they’re not signaling Earth at all? Maybe it’s just a galactic-scale disco strobe light, or the finale of a Hotblack Desiato-fronted Disaster Area concert?
Onwards and downwards . . .
Pay just $1 and learn to code online
You don’t need to get an advanced degree and take out massive loans to become a coder. This bundle of 10 courses was designed to teach anyone to code at home for less than it costs to go out for dinner.
I was particularly impressed with this new 2017 bundle because it includes courses on the latest and most relevant technologies. While most affordable coding courses start and end with basic HTML, this bundle covers everything from iOS coding to Python to Google Go and Scala. Google Go and Scala, in particular, are two of the most relevant skills you can have while applying for a coding job with a top tech company.
To purchase this bundle, you have two simple options. You can seriously pay just $1 and get a 38-lecture JavaScript course (valued at $99). If you would like to bring home lifetime access to all 10 courses and 156 hours of training, just beat the average price - currently just $15.10.
Click here to check out the bundle in the Boing Boing Store, and start learning a new, profitable skill.
And don't forget to check out the Boing Boing Store's new 2016 Holiday Gift Shop:
Neat demonstration of EDM cutting technology
EDM (electrical discharge machining) cuts through thick plates of steel within +/- 0.0001".
From Core 77:
In the variant of this production method known as wire EDM, the cutting is done with a thin brass wire and the fun combination of electricity and water. Wire EDM is what you use when you want to cut something that's, say, 300mm thick, and made out of a tough-to-machine metal.
Incredible 1960 time capsule apartment
Not My Emperor
Legendary Phoenix getting in on the timely political commentary. Darth Sidious hasn't been seen in public since the election. Coincidence? (more…)
Artist makes delightful creatures from beach rocks
San Francisco Bay Area map according to Urban Dictionary
School Time Rock - Electoral College
FOLLOW @RubenBolling on the Twitters and a Face Book.
NOW MORE THAN EVER, JOIN Tom the Dancing Bug's subscription club, the INNER HIVE, to support the comic strip, and to get exclusive early access to comics, extra comics, commentary and more.
More Tom the Dancing Bug comics on Boing Boing! (more…)
Death defying extreme downhill mountain bike racing
Here's a GoPro view of mountain bike racer Dan Atherton, who broke his neck in 2010, riding down a treacherous mountain trail. From the https://youtu.be/DhBPFr3RRso description:
See firsthand what it's like to rip down one of the heaviest downhill mountain bike tracks ever created, through the GoPro view of the creator himself, Dan Atherton. It's why Red Bull Hardline is an event like no other. The long and technical course plays on a variety of disciplines, where incredibly steep and rocky technical sections were combined with a motocross run in and 50-foot gap jump to create one of the most progressive downhill courses on the planet.
Cityscapes created inside toilet paper rolls
Paris-based artist Anastassia Elias created these papercraft cityscapes inside toilet paper cores. It was part of November's World Toilet Day, and it was commissioned to bring awareness to the sad state of toilet affairs in many large cities. (more…)
UK reports of webcam blackmail (sextortion, RATting, etc) more than double in 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvM8n408iYw
So far 864 people in the UK have reported instances of "webcam blackmail" to police in 2016, more than double the number of reported incidents in 2015. (more…)
Dog chases walruses off dock
A crabby dog chased a half-dozen walruses (or are they sea-lions?) relaxing on a dock (or is it a pier?) Whatever.
The hacker who took over San Francisco's Muni got hacked
Last week, the San Francisco Municipal Light Rail system (the Muni) had to stop charging passengers to ride because a ransomware hacker had taken over its network and encrypted the drives of all of its servers. (more…)
Virtual toilets reveal the souls of video-game companies
People need toilets, or the poop starts piling up, so video games that are supposed to simulate human environments need toilets to attain willing suspension of disbelief. (more…)
Tuesday 29 November 2016
Silent treatment, love-bombing, gaslighting and other traits of Narcissist Personality Disorder
Maureen Herman & Katie Schwartz wrote a piece about Narcissist Personality Disorder and how to defend yourself against a world leader who might have it.
We want to urge the press and public to understand what Narcissist Personality Disorder is. It manifests as impairments in the way someone functions and interacts with others, combined with the specific pathological personality trait of antagonism, characterized by grandiosity and attention seeking. We feel the finer points are something the public should promptly familiarize itself with.
The negative effect of NPD happens in stages, and we have watched Trump’s relationship with his supporters, and it is very familiar to us. In a classic NPD relationship. first comes the love-bombing: the narcissist tells you what you want to hear. Then they manage down expectations: doing whatever they want, and expecting or demanding that you accept it without incident. Now, the pathological lying comes full force: you call them out on what they said or did and they vehemently deny it, making you question your sanity. Then comes the devalue stage: because you questioned or criticized them, they discredit you. Now, the discard: the punishment and alienation begins, and any attempts to please them are used to give them more control over you. It doesn’t end there. The cycle continues and the disorder becomes your new normal. It’s not.
There are known narcissistic terms, strategies, and agendas. We urge the media to learn the terminology, and use it: , silent treatment, love-bombing, gaslighting, devalue & discard phase, narcissistic abuse, managing down expectations, and flying monkeys (Kellyanne Conway).
Projecting leaked NSA docs on the side of AT&T's windowless NYC spy-center
Earlier this month, Henrik Moltke helped report the extent to which the massive, windowless, bombproof AT&T tower at 33 Thomas Street was implicated in illegal NSA surveillance of US and international communications, revealing that the tower was almost certainly the site referred to as TITANPOINTE in Snowden docs. (more…)
New Matter's MOD-t 3D printer on sale for $399
A couple of weeks ago I reviewed New Matter's MOD-t 3D printer. It was $400 at the time, but the price has temporarily dropped to $340. This is a great deal for an excellent 3D printer. I've been using mine like crazy since I got it.
On the proper care and feeding of horn-rimmed glasses
I had no idea I was supposed to be treating my horn rimmed glasses with special care. Over time, my favorite pair developed a lovely patina, and moulded to fit me. Little did I know, I was letting them go to waste.
For years our Xeni has been discovering amazing glasses shop(s), places where they craft the most fantastical frames out of rare and precious unobtanium. Every time I am headed to LA I get a message like "FANCY FRAME SHOP, LETS GO!" but I've managed to cling to my doddering old time-y, round horn rimmed glasses.
I like how horn feels. I like how horn looks. Each pair has a distinct pattern, and texture, there is grain in the bone, and while artisans are able to bend and turn the bone into shapes that fit our faces, the bone will always be a natural, biologically created material and have a life of its own.
Because of this fact, I should have expected that care for the horn rims would be more than just "wear them." Over time sunlight, water, sweat, heat, and dry conditions will all take their toll on bone. My favorite pair had expanded and dried out enough times that the grain was pretty easy to feel and the glasses lost all their shine. Like all things, wearing them motorcycling added extra abuse -- 100s of hours inside a helmet did them no favors.
Wipe your horn rim glasses down with mineral oil or vitamin E oil once every 3 months or so. They will look like new. Then clean off the lenses. If you do this from the very start, your glasses will look new for a very long time. If you waited a long time to start taking regular care of your frames like I did, you'll still be surprised by the results.
Glasses that have been ignored for a long time can be polished and buffed out again. Try the shop where you bought them, they ought to be able to help.
(Image of Sammy Davis Jr. and his horn rims via Pinterest)
Cheap replacement center-pinch lens caps
I like center-pinch lens caps as they try to hold themselves on. I don't bother with the leashes, they get in my way. I just buy more caps when I lose them.
I lose a lot of them. Sometimes I wonder if there is a section of the Pacific gyre dedicated to my missing lens caps.
The link is for 52mm caps, but you can adjust the size on the Amazon page and buy whichever you're currently losing. The only lens cap I've held on to (thus far) is the weirdly unique one for my Nikon 14-24 F2.8
5 Center Pinch Lens Cap (52mm) and 5 Cap Keeper Leash via Amazon
Things I miss: Weebles wobbling, not falling down
I loved Weebles. As a little kid I tried and tried to balance them upside down.
As a young boy scout I learned they make dangerous ammunition for homemade calcium carbide cannons. They fit an available diameter of PVC very well, I don't recall which.
Happy birthday to the world's oldest person!
Happy 117th birthday to Emma Morano of Verbenia, Italy! Morano is the oldest person on Earth and the last living individual born in the 18th century. From the BBC:
Ms Morano's longevity, she admits, is partly down to genetics - her mother reached 91 and several sisters reached their centenary - and partly, she says, down to a rather unusual diet of three eggs - two raw - each day for more than 90 years.
It was a regime she took up as a young woman, after the doctor diagnosed her with anaemia shortly after World War One.
These days, she has cut down to just two eggs a day, and a few biscuits.
Symmetry – Utopias are never perfect, are they?
Utopias are never perfect, are they? Symmetry offers some good heady sci-fi in the vein of 1984, Ender's Game, Equilibrium, or Fahrenheit 451. Imagine a world where humans are coddled and raised by machines, think Wall-E, but people haven’t become total blobs. Gender and identity are decided by the individual when they turn thirteen. And all races have been separated, so that most people will grow up not even realizing that other nationalities exist. Then one day a solar flare causes the machines to shut down and the wall between nations to break.
What follows is a great story that seems very relevant in today’s world. I think Symmetry does what sci-fi does best, it makes you think about what’s happening around you and where things might go if we aren’t careful. It’s clear that the creators spent a good deal of time thinking through these issues, and how the world in their book works. There’s actually a pretty lengthy sociological write-up included that dives further into some of the ideas that helped shape the story.
Volume 1 is satisfying, but definitely leaves you wanting more. The cel-shaded illustration feels like something out of a video game, which actually matches the story perfectly. Thankfully, Volume 2 is due out in December, so we’ll get to explore more of this world. Get caught up.
Symmetry Volume 1
by Matt Hawkins
Image Comics
2016, 128 pages, 6.5 x 9.9 x 0.6 inches (softcover)
$8 Buy a copy on Amazon
Cool claymation video and tutorials for making your own
Alexander Unger is an animator and sculptor who makes excellent stop motion instructional videos (like this one on how to bounce things and this one on how to make things fly). Here's a recent claymation video he made, with great use of sound effects.
[via]
The Internet Archive is putting a Trump-resistant mirror of the web in Canada
The Internet Archive is augmenting its existing mirrors -- one in San Francisco, one in Amsterdam, one at the Library of Alexandria (that is: San Andreas fault, below sea level, military dictatorship) -- with a copy in Canada, on the premise that "lots of copies keep stuff safe." (more…)
Smartphone microscope and app for testing your sperm
YO is an FDA-cleared sperm quality analyzer for your smartphone. It consists of a detachable mini microscope and light that clips to your mobile phone. You "acquire" a sperm sample, drop it into the YO Clip, and the app records a video of your sperm in action and analyzes the activity. Available in January, you can pre-order two tests for $50. I bet the app has social media integration so if you have strong swimmers, you can proudly share the proof with your friends.
"Extensive testing has been performed on the YO Home Sperm Test—over four years to be exact," Marcia Deutsch, CEO of Medical Electronic Systems, the parent company of YO Sperm Test and producer of commercial-grade semen analyzers for major labs, tells Fit Pregnancy. "The technology is able to read the sperm sample 99 percent of the time, as long as the instructions are followed. [If it can read the test] the results are more than 97 percent accurate based on FDA studies of 316 participants."
Because it's an over-the-counter product, Deutsch says the test can't reveal actual values, but rather gives a reading of "low" or "moderate/normal" based on World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for sperm motility (how well they move) and concentration (how many there are). The test reports a composite of these two parameters called "motile sperm concentration," or the number of moving sperm.
YO Sperm Test (via Uncrate)
Hippo attacks car
Wikus Ceronie, a welding inspector, describes his encounter with a truculent hippo:
This is my first time ever working in Mozambique and I was on a jolly journey back home to South Africa.I was crossing the border from Kruger National Park when I noticed a hippo on the bridge. There were people walking around in the nearby vicinity so I automatically assumed this hippo was used to humans. I was quite fascinated by this so I took out my phone to start filming.
Suddenly the hippo turned and just started charging… I braced myself as I realized he wasn’t going to stop. He hit the bakkie head on and then tried biting it. I guess after that he decided he had won because he just turned around and left.
This was terrifying for me because I realized I had nowhere to go and no time to do it in. Beside me was a 50m drop so had he hit me on the side I have no doubt the car would have rolled down the embankment. Even though there was damage done to the bonnet of my vehicle and the door couldn’t open, I’m grateful there were no serious injuries at the end of day.
Gentleman who smuggled $165,000 worth of gold in his rectum promises to pay it back
From CBC:
Lawrence worked at the mint from July 2008 until March 2015. His job included purifying gold — jewelry, coins and bars purchased by the mint — by melting it, injecting it with chlorine gas and skimming off base metal until the molten gold was 99.5 per cent pure.
Once he believed the molten gold was pure, he was to scoop some out with a ladle, let it cool and then test it for purity. He was supposed to return the pucks into the vat of molten gold after testing.
Lawrence "clearly had the opportunity" to steal the gold because he often worked alone, and the security cameras would not have caught him slipping gold pucks into his pocket, Doody ruled. "His locker contained Vaseline and latex gloves, which could have been used to insert a puck into his rectum," he ruled, adding that there were no cameras in the locker room.
This wonderful video is all about smashing expectations
“I’ve heard from people who felt tension and being infuriated about the scenes, but that wasn’t the purpose,” designer/filmmaker Florent Porta told Wired. “It makes me laugh. I’m not sadistic!”
Englands new £5 notes contain animal fat, angering vegans
The Bank of England confirmed that its new £5 notes contain animal fat. “There is a trace of tallow in the polymer pellets used in the base substrate of the polymer £5 notes,” it tweeted yesterday. There's a petition underway to replace them with vegan currency.
The new £5 notes contain animal fat in the form of tallow. This is unacceptable to millions of vegans, vegetarians, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and others in the U.K.
We demand that you cease to use animal products in the production of currency that we have to use.
The petition has 26,260 supporters so far.
@SteffiRox there is a trace of tallow in the polymer pellets used in the base substrate of the polymer £5 notes
— Bank of England (@bankofengland) November 28, 2016
Hyperinflation in Venezuela - merchants are weighing, not counting, currency
Venezuela's currency is on track to inflate by 720 percent this year. Why? The drop in the price of oil hurt Venezuela's economy, and President Nicolás Maduro thought he could solve the problem by printing more money. It didn't work and now people are starving.
From The Independent:
When the price of oil on the global market collapsed by two-thirds in 2014, Venezuela had little else to fall back on, so a natural reaction would have been for the bolívar to collapse. But Mr Maduro, who succeeded Hugo Chávez following the revolutionary leader's death in 2013, instead tried to control the exchange rate, creating a massive black market for currency.
Figuring out scams to get dollars and then sell them for bolívars became hugely lucrative business for Venezuelans, setting off a feedback loop that drove the inflation rate higher and higher.
In one of Caracas richer neighbourhoods, the owner of a tiny kiosk selling newspapers, cigarettes and snacks told the Washington Post that every evening he quietly stuffs a plastic bag full of the day’s earnings, around 100,000 bolívars (about £42) in notes of 10, 20, 50 and 100 bolívars. Venezuela has one of the highest crime rates in the world, and he said carrying that much cash frightens him.
Good Comic Book Legal Defense Fund gear for #GivingTuesday
Charles from the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund writes, "CBLDF is raising money to prepare for a busy 2017 this #GivingTuesday by offering exclusive Comics Are For Everybody merchandise created by Jordie Bellaire (@woahjordie) and Steven Finch (@fonografiks). Comics should be an art form that welcomes and encourages all voices and viewpoints. CBLDF's efforts to protect the First Amendment are essential in creating a climate ensuring that remains the case."
NTP: the rebirth of ailing, failing core network infrastructure
Network Time Protocol is how the computers you depend on know what time it is (this is critical to network operations, cryptography, and many other critical functions); NTP software was, until recently, stored in a proprietary format on a computer that no one had the password for (and which had not been updated in a decade), and maintained almost entirely by one person. (more…)
This is the fastest way to alphabetize 1,000+ books (or anything else)?
From TED-Ed:
You work at the college library. You’re in the middle of a quiet afternoon when suddenly, a shipment of 1,280 books arrives. The books are in a straight line, but they're all out of order, and the automatic sorting system is broken. How can you sort the books quickly? Chand John shows how, shedding light on how algorithms help librarians and search engines speedily sort information.
The Beastie Boys' Ad-Rock designed a shoe whose profits will go to Planned Parenthood
Vegan shoe company Keep's $97 Ramos midtop sneaker was designed by Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz, and will ship in February, with all proceeds going to Planned Parenthood, a vital woman's health organization under sustained assault from Republicans, who use lies about the rare abortions the organization performs to enrage and focus its low-information base, without any regard for the millions of women who rely on PP for basic health services (and the much smaller number who use PP for abortion). (more…)
Get your Christmas tree and wreath delivered to your door this year—50% off
Five Star Christmas Tree Co is providing the easiest way yet to decorate for the holidays. This company will actually deliver a Christmas tree or wreath straight to your front door for a reasonable price.
This direct to your door service includes your choice of Fraser fir trees, ranging from 3 to 7 feet tall. So whether you live in a studio apartment or a multi-room house, you can get the perfect sized tree without trudging around in the cold or having to deal with pine needles in the car.
Five Star Christmas Tree Co even includes earth-friendly pickup and tree-cycling when the Christmas season is over. The best part is that Christmas Tree Co’s prices are comparable to your neighborhood tree lot, and are currently an extra 50% off.
Choose from a 22” wreath complete with pinecones, holly berries, and a bow ($29.99), as well as three different tree sizes: 3-4’ ($39.99), 5-6’ ($69.99) or 6-7’ ($79.99). Order yours today - this is a limited time deal!
As North Dakota governor orders "emergency evacuation" at Standing Rock, Water Protectors ask court for an injunction
Jack Dalrymple, the Republican governor of North Dakota, has ordered an "emergency evacuation" on the unceded treaty lands owned by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, where protesters have endured potentially lethal, unconstitutional violence from law enforcement, including the use of water cannons as antipersonnel weapons in subzero temperatures and the use of tear-gas cannisters as projectiles fired into crowds of protesters. (more…)
Uber is running scared of Juno, a NYC competitor that's kicking its ass
Juno is a "driver-friendly" rideshare service that competes with Uber by paying its drivers more and giving drivers the ability to pick up a fare, get them to install the Juno app, and give them a discount. (more…)
Trump is apparently still terrified about financial conflicts so now he's tweeting about flag-burning and CNN
Last weekend, the New York Times published an outstanding, meticulously reported investigative story about Trump's financial conflicts of interest -- the sorts of things that could lead to forced divestiture, impeachment, or worse, triggering a tweetstorm from the president-elect about an imaginary, millions-strong cohort of fraudulent voters. (more…)
Watch this cute short film about absurdity
Florent Porta created Preposterous, an animated CGI confection of brightly-colored objects behaving impossibly, set to Vic Mizzy's upbeat music. (more…)
Vinyl Divas: vintage opera diva album art is weird and wonderful
Help Kickstart these cool geometric music controllers
Michael Samuels of Sonic Geometry is Kickstarting a set of polyhedral sound controllers that let users shape sound and light into a multimedia performance. Originally a Master's Thesis project at Berklee School of Music, the prototypes are scheduled for release next year. (more…)
Smooth chihuahua Nana has the derp game on lock
Instagrammer Edamame114 is proud biographer of Japan's derpiest superstar chihuahua Nana. Follow Nana's adventures wearing hats, going to local landmarks, and eating treats. Warning: you may make audible sounds while scrolling. (more…)
Monday 28 November 2016
NASA's Space Poop Challenge
NASA issued a public $30,000 bounty "for fecal, urine, and menstrual management systems to be used in the crew’s launch and entry suits over a continuous duration of up to 144 hours." From the competition brief:
Current space suits are worn for launch and entry activities and in-space activities to protect the crew from any unforeseen circumstances that the space environment can cause. A crew member could find themselves in this suit for up to 10 hours at a time nominally for launch or landing, or up to 6 days if something catastrophic happens while in space.
The old standby solution consisted of diapers, in case astronauts needed to relieve themselves. However, the diaper is only a very temporary solution, and doesn’t provide a healthy/protective option longer than one day.
What's needed is a system inside a space suit that collects human waste for up to 144 hours and routes it away from the body, without the use of hands. The system has to operate in the conditions of space - where solids, fluids, and gases float around in microgravity (what most of us think of as "zero gravity") and don't necessarily mix or act the way they would on earth. This system will help keep astronauts alive and healthy over 6 days, or 144 hrs.
Space Poop Challenge (HeroX)
Excellent billboard collaboration
Wonderful work from two local businesses in Nix, Missouri. (via /r/funny)
And while we're at it, here's a fine selection of other creative billboards.
Tsujigiri: a ghastly samurai practice
The reasons for tsujigiri varied, but usually the swordsman slashed at an unsuspecting victim to try out his new katana, to practice a new move, to test his strength, or just for the sheer thrill of it. There was even a superstition floating around that said performing tsujigiri on 1,000 people would heal illness. The victims were usually merchants or peasants.
The Earth and I – is climate change moving too fast for a new book on climate change?
It is obviously unfair to dismiss the entire contents of a book for a single tin-eared statement, but the clunker that comes near the end of The Earth and I by Gaia-theory originator James Lovelock is a doozy. The inexplicable passage follows a dozen essays by journalists, a Nobel Prize winner, and several Ivy League professors, who make a pretty good case for both the insignificance of human beings in the universe and their unique ability to end life as we know it here on Planet Earth. In an attempt, then, to give his shell-shocked readers a sliver of hope by celebrating the success of the Montreal Protocol, which banned chlorofluorocarbons in 1989, Lovelock crows about how these ozone-destroying compounds were replaced by hydrofluorocarbons, which, he writes, “are far less harmful to the planetary environment.”
Somewhere between the time Lovelock wrote those words and the publication of his book, hydrofluorocarbons were added to the Montreal Protocol’s list of banned substances – eliminating “less harmful” hydrofluorocarbons is expected to keep our warming planet’s temperature from rising by a full half-degree Celsius.
The inability of even an authority like Lovelock to keep pace with current events points out how quickly both the science and politics of climate change are a changing. In this light, understanding the holistic view of the planet’s processes – from the weather above us to the meaning of the geological history below our feet – has never been more important. The Earth and I delivers on these topics and more, while Jack Hudson’s engaging illustrations lure us in and invite the eye to linger. Many readers may well be tempted to do just that, but they shouldn’t – at last report, Greenland and Antarctica were melting at alarming fast and irreversible rates.
The Earth and I
by James Lovelock (editor) and Jack Hudson (illustrator)
Taschen
2016, 168 pages, 8.5 x 10.9 x 0.8 inches (hardcover)
$23 Buy a copy on Amazon
Texas lawyers sing about why you shouldn't eat weed in front of cops
The lawyers of Hutson and Harris wrote and performed a song that explains how eating or throwing away your pot in front of a cop turns a misdemeanor possession charge into a felony offense of evidence tampering.
Fermentation air locks for wide mouth jars
Xeni and Mark got me addicted to fermenting vegetables. These fermentation locks make fermenting a variety of things at once simple.
Using home-brew style fermentation locks with my wide mouth Bell jars is a pain, I constantly knock the tall bubble chambers off the bungs in my jar's lid. These simple, easy to clean airlocks sit flat on top of the jar and work without added water. Just screw them on and away you go.
Easy Fermenter Wide Mouth Lid Kit 3 Lids, Extractor Pump & Recipe eBook, via Amazon
Buy a Dash button for $1, get a $5 credit
I just bought another Amazon Dash Button for my growing collection of wireless one-push product ordering buttons. (This time, I got the button for Amazon Basic Batteries.) Dash Buttons are usually $5, but you can get one for $1 if you use the promo code CYBERDASH. You'll also get a $5 Amazon credit after your first press.
Negative review of a $1,500 Silicon Valley toaster oven
Mark Wilson of Fast Company cooked a piece of salmon in a $1,500 toaster over called June, which has a built-in camera, temperature probe, Wi-Fi, and artificial intelligence. He says the the oven isn't very good.
[June] required nearly $30 million in venture capital to create. It was the brainchild of the engineer who brought us the iPhone’s camera and Ammunition, the design firm that gave us Beats headphones.
...
But the June's fussy interface is archetypal Silicon Valley solutionism. Most kitchen appliances are literally one button from their intended function. When you twist the knob of your stove, it fires up. Hit "pulse" on a food processor and it chops. The objects are simple, because the knowledge to use them correctly lives in the user. If you get the oven temperature wrong, or the blend speed off, you simply turn it off and try again. The June attempts to eliminate what you have to know, by adding prompts and options and UI feedback. Slide in a piece of bread to make toast. Would you like your toast extra light, light, medium, or dark? Then you get an instruction: "Toast bread on middle rack." But where there once was just an on button, you now get a blur of uncertainty: How much am I in control? How much can I expect from the oven? I once sat watching the screen for two minutes, confused as to why my toast wasn’t being made. Little did I realize, there’s a checkmark I had to press—the computer equivalent of "Are you sure you want to delete these photos?" — before browning some bread.
Apple profits from scam apps in the App Store
If you search for “Microsoft Excel” in Apple's App Store, the top result is a $30 “Office Bundle," advertised as a way to "create Word, Excel and PowerPoint Documents." In reality, it's just a bunch of templates for Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, but that's not made clear in the description. The $30 purchase price is split between the publisher (2/3) and Apple (1/3). '
It turns out that the App Store is filled with scam apps like this.
Let’s be blunt: these customers were ripped off, and Apple pocketed $10 each. And you’ll only see these comments if you scroll past the two five star reviews that mention the word “app” numerous times. Both of those reviews, by the way, were left by accounts that haven’t reviewed any other apps in the Store.
Search for other Office applications and you’ll find more template bundles, disguised as official applications to varying degrees.
There are also several $20+ applications that put Microsoft’s free online version of Office into a dedicated browser. Then there are the actual “apps” capable of opening and editing Office files, many of which use terms like “Microsoft Word” in their names. They appear to be slightly modified versions of open source applications, but we’re not about to buy them to find out.