Nick Bilton reports on the next round of fake news tools that allow users to manipulate audio and video to change what's being said, a sort of real-time Photoshop for moving images and audio. Want to make it look like a celebrity used a taboo word, or misquote a politician? No problem! (more…)
Okay, what's up with Trump? Asks "Where's Rudy?" Look where Rudy is. pic.twitter.com/VLZzRkCs63
— Tommy Christopher (@tommyxtopher) January 31, 2017
Where is Rudy? There's Rudy!
Jonas Wagner's Neon Flames is a dead-simple web tool to create beautiful nebulae on-screen. There are eight colorful gases to choose from, and the longer you click, the larger your celestial flame. Be sure to check out Wagner's other experiments, such as Javascript filmstock emulation and 1-bit image dithering that puts Photoshop and even old Macs to shame.
Neil Gorsuch, currently serving on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, is Donald Trump's pick to fill the seat opened by Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia's death. The youngest nominee in 25 years, 49-year-old Gorsuch could provide decades of reliably Conservative opininion from the bench.
"A special thank you to @POTUS," was posted to an as-yet-unverified Twitter account in Gorsuch's name. "As Mr. Trump's Supreme Court nominee I promise to always do what is best for the American People. #SCOTUS" https://twitter.com/JusticeNGorsuch/status/826593123866382337
Radiolab brought to my attention this great five-part podcast series on poverty in America. Busted: America's Poverty Myths breaks down accepted wisdom about poverty to reveal the reality of what it’s actually like to be poor in America. The show takes familiar concepts like the social safety net and the rags-to-riches narrative and explores the ways in which they’re not quite what they seem. You can download the podcast on the On The Media iTunes feed or listen to it on the WNYC website. You can also get a taste of Busted by listening to the latest Radiolab episode, which offers a compilation of Busted stories.
From Leadnow.ca: "The most important thing you can do right now is take 5 minutes to call your MP demanding that the Canadian government: Make an immediate, public condemnation of the executive orders by President Trump that bans Muslims and refugees from entering the US, and; Rescind the Safe Third Country Agreement which bars most refugee claimants entering from the United States over land to claim asylum in Canada." (more…)
"To assume that just because of someone’s age and gender that they don’t pose a threat would be misguided and wrong." (more…)
Newsarama's George Marston reports on a HiloBrow interview with Hanna-Barbera writer Mark Russell: he is to reboot Snagglepuss as "a gay Southern Gothic playwright" in the tradition of Tennessee Williams.
Snagglepuss's adventures in New York will bring him to Broadway, where he'll deal with issues of his sexuality and the place of homosexuals in the repressed culture of the 50s.
"[Snagglepuss's sexuality is] never discussed and it’s obviously ignored in the cartoons ’cuz they were made at a time when you couldn’t even acknowledge the existence of such a thing," Russell explained. "But it’s still so obvious; so it’s natural to present it in a context where everybody knows, but it’s still closeted. And dealing with the cultural scene of the 1950s, especially on Broadway, where everybody’s gay, or is working with someone who’s gay, but nobody can talk about it - and what it’s like to have to try to create culture out of silence."
Oh, what a joyful day to frolic and play. Whaddya say to that? Whaddya say to thaaaaat?
As everyday discussions about prejudice and oppression get more nuanced, it can be hard to know how to dive into the conversation. This helpful guide by writer Saroful breaks down the basics of what intersectional feminism is and how not to make rookie mistakes when it comes to it. Here’s an excerpt:
Lesson two, which I meant to make lesson one: If it’s not about you, don’t make it about you. If it is about you, do better.
What does that mean? Well. At some point you’re going to hear a statement like “white women are racist.” Your first instinct is going to be “not me! I’m a good person!” Stop for a minute before you jump in with that comment.
First of all, is it contributing anything to the discussion? No. It’s actually derailing the discussion by recentering it on people having to reassure you that you’re a good person. Remember #notallmen? Don’t be that guy. More about derailing in a second, I promise.
Second of all, I chose that statement for a reason, and it’s about to get real uncomfortable in here so let me reassure you FIRST that I love you and I think you’re a worthwhile person: white people are racist. They benefit from systemic racism whether or not they actively contribute to perpetuating it, and they perpetuate it in ways that are invisible to them because they’ve never had to think about it. That’s a thing you can learn about by not jumping in on that discussion and just sitting and listening for a minute.
You can read the full piece "How to survive in intersectional feminist spaces 101" on Saroful’s website. Then check out Saroful’s next article, “So you think you know a thing: Feministing 201”.
[Header image: Tyler Feder of Roaring Softly]
Donald Trump had planned to head to Milwaukee to tour a Harley-Davidson factory and sign some executive orders there. But the company said it wasn't comfortable hosting him and called it off. CNN's Jeremy Diamond:
Large protests have been in the works in recent days, particularly in light of Trump's executive order issuing an immigration ban. It was the threat of protests, and not Trump's planned signing of executive orders, that made Harley-Davidson uncomfortable, the official said.
When people tell you protests accomplish nothing, they're inviting you to be lazy, to put up with it, to give up. You don't have to make the same choices they do.
Do you like the idea of riding horses? Do you want to get fit? If so, check out "Horse Riding Fitness Ace Power!," a portable, flexible A-frame on wheels with a seat to allow the operator to sit on it like a horse—then perform squats, thrusts and pelvic oscillations, to whatever ends or purposes the operator intends. (more…)
The YouTube channel Life Noggin digs into this terrifying question and sings the praises of coral along the way.
Remember those bygone days when certain stores would decorate their walls with movie titles for us to pick through? Well, just imagine a magical place that cuts out the celluloid chaff and delivers only what we really want to see.
Last weekend I stumbled upon the finest collection of cinema classics I‘ve witnessed since the early 2000s. It was stocked with everything I needed to scratch my entertainment itch for drama, romance, and even sports flicks.
And the place I’m talking about ONLY carried the classic Jerry Maguire movie and get this… it was all on VHS tape!
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXRMTahRj0g[/embed]
[embed]http://https://vimeo.com/199414596?from=outro-embed[/embed]
[embed]https://vimeo.com/199414596?from=outro-embed[/embed]
[embed]https://vimeo.com/199414596?from=outro-embed[/embed]
Everything Is Terrible! is an LA based art collective that has amassed the world’s largest collection of Jerry Maguire VHS tapes. This absurd piece of long form performance art has been achieved solely through fan donations, with a current total of approximately 14,000 once beloved video tapes.
The iam8bit Gallery houses a perfect re-creation of a video rental store circa 1996, but instead of carrying thousands of porn quadrilogies and action movie knockoffs, this store will carry only Jerry Maguire on VHS. Seeing thousands of Jerrys finally reunited will forever destroy the viewers’ previous perception of culture, waste, and existence as a whole. The Jerrys are a beautiful thing.
Why are they doing this? Because it’s awesome, that’s why! But more importantly, the collective is raising cash for a permanent pyramid of Jerry Maguire movies that’ll be built in the desert “so the tapes can co-exist until the end of time”.
Could this be the best idea I’ve heard in my entire life? Probably so. I'm glad that my 5$ is being used to make their dream a reality.
I absolutely can't wait for this to be built so we can all worship this fine classic in the opulent Jerry Throne Room... as we were meant to!
But you’re probably wondering what you can do until the monument is actually built. Well, below is a picture of what’s to come in the following months and as you can see, the future looks pretty bright!
So many choices right?!
Below, my fellow film buffs Dan Hamilton and Juan Gonzalez struggle to make the painful decision of whether to rent the overdubbed French or the classic American version that we’ve all come to know and love. I’m going to keep their selection a secret so as not to sway your choice when you visit The Jerry Maguire Video Store on your own.
When you do, be sure to ask for our new friend Nathan to help you out. He’s an excellent host, collaborator and contributor to EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE and helps to run a comedy troupe called LooseMeat.
Finally, my life is complete!
When critics dismissed his paintings, Dutch artist Han van Meegeren decided to seek his revenge on the art world: He devoted himself to forgery and spent six years fabricating a Vermeer masterpiece. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast, we'll recount the career of a master forger and the surprising mistake that eventually brought him down.
We'll also drop in on D.B. Cooper and puzzle over an eyeless fruit burglar.
YouTuber Brainiac75 suffers for science by taking a viewer request to touch the spikes formed by exposing ferrofluid to an extremely powerful neodymium magnet. He also shares some history of the substance. (more…)
ProPublica puts a heartbreaking, human face on this weekend’s immigration ban with the story of Dr. Suha Abushamma. The 26-year-old is in her first year of an Internal Medicine residency program at the prestigious Cleveland Clinic and she had been visiting family in Saudi Arabia this week. When she heard rumblings of Donald Trump’s Muslim immigrant ban, she rushed to return to the United States. Although Saudi Arabia is not on Trump’s list of seven banned countries, Abushamma’s passport is from Sudan, which is.
Abushamma landed in New York at 11 a.m. on Saturday, where she was directed into a holding area. ProPublica writes:
[Abushamma] said she knew she was in trouble when a representative for Saudi Airlines approached her and told her she would have to book a flight home. Then an officer, whose name she wrote down as T. Lam, told her her choices: ”Either to withdraw my visa … so it wouldn’t leave a negative mark on my profile … or the second option was to refuse to withdraw” and be banned from the U.S. for five years. “I told them at that point I already had lawyers working on my case. I just need a few more hours … They absolutely refused. I even talked to the supervisor.”
According to FlightAware, a flight tracking website, the plane pushed back from the gate at 8:29 p.m. and took off at 8:53 p.m. The earliest reports of the judge’s stay of deportations under the executive order came at around 9 p.m.
ProPublica quotes Abushamma as saying, “I’m happy for the people that are held. I met a really bright young female from Iran who’s studying at NYU. Her flight was at 11. I’m happy for her that she at least gets to go in. I’m frustrated, but it’s the way it is.” Although Abushamma is trying to get a waiver for the 90-day ban, immigration lawyer David Leopold notes, “She’s not going to be able to get a visa for at least 90 days. She’s already been removed, so I think it’s over. This is heartbreaking.”
You can read the full story on ProPublica.
Here’s what you hear when you call the number:
https://soundcloud.com/user-932995833/djtcommitteetodefendthepresidentAs Ellen Duffer uncovered, The Committee To Defend The President is a “project” of the Stop Hillary PAC run by former Colorado state legislator Ted Harvey.
The Reaction GIF generator takes a brief video of you and spits out a GIF, thereby meeting your need for a brief animation of your confusion, dismay and horror to post in blog comments or on social networking platforms.
I don't have a webcam at the moment, but this particular GIF is uncannily like me every time I have the thought "I wonder what's going on on Twitter."
This dog is able to leap tall buildings (or at least medium-sized gates) in a single bound!
Enjoy this supercut of legendary snooker player and commentator John Virgo saying "Where's the cue ball going?," usually at a volume that pushes the envelope of the Snooker Commentator's Hush. (more…)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=cJzgiDgBpcw
The first iteration of Dial-a-Grue, in 2011, was to kit out an old rotary dial phone with an embedded computer and text-to-speech engine so that you could play Zork with nothing but the handset. The new, 2.0 version of the project, is "to port Zork I (via a z-code interpreter) to an embedded platform, and enclose that and an old modem inside a telephone, so that the game can be played from a teletype, TDD, or old computer with an acoustically coupled modem." (via JWZ)
The ACLU raised $24M over the weekend of the #muslimban, six times its usual annual average, and now it is joining the Winter 2017 class at Y Combinator, a startup accelerator that has emerged a mixed bag of great and terrible companies, which has had to contend with controversy over its ties to Peter Thiel. (more…)
Ladies and gentlemen, the bookcase of the Old State Department Library at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. (via Bookshelf)
Eric Schmidt -- long-serving former CEO of Google, current chairman of Google parent-company Alphabet, who knows a thing or two about evil -- addressed Googlers this week, calling the Trump #muslimban "evil." (more…)
Despite his widely read criticism of Tor, The Gruqq -- a legendary, pseudonymous security expert -- uses it as first and last line of defense in keeping your secret, activist Twitter account a secret. (more…)
Doane Paper makes wonderful pocket-sized notebooks with paper that is fantastically compatible with fountain pens.
I absolutely love my Maruman Mnemosyne notebooks, but they aren't big and rigid. These 5"x7" Doane Paper pads have similarly awesome paper, and fit in casual clothes pockets, if you need small they also make 3"x5".
The paper is slightly off-white and is quadruled with a light blue. My Levenger, Pilot and Parker's all glide over the paper very smoothly, tho the Pilot Vanishing point definetly shows its "travel-ness" when compared to the Duo-fold. Ink gets absorbed quickly and only slightly bleeds through unless I write with a heavy hand. I tried various Noodlers and Parker Quink black. Noodler's Blue Nose Bear is almost the same color as the grid lines.
Doane Paper Large Utility Edition, 3-Pack Grid + Lines Memo Notebooks via Amazon
This three-minute video was run through Deep Dream, Google's neural net that generates algorithmic pareidolia in the form of weird creatures. I want glasses that do this.
[via]
Egyptian photographer Amr Elshamy takes beautiful wildlife photos inside on a tabletop. From PetaPixel:
The project started a couple of months ago when Elshamy got in touch with a Chinese company called MOJO FUN, which makes highly detailed animal figures.
To create underwater shots, Elshamy filled a tank with water and added blue coloring to create a tint. To add specks of dust to the shots, he dropped tissues into the water and moved it around. He also uses a black background, fishing line to hold the animals, and a single flash head with a snoot with a blue gel.
To create scenes of the snowy arctic, Elshamy uses a white background, 2 flashes heads (a softbox above and one for the background), and cheap snow that you can find at gift shops.
In a new paper in Nature Astronomy, a team from Osaka University publishes its analysis of data gathered by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Selenological and Engineering Explorer, revealing that an isotope present in lunar regolith is a match for an isotope found in terrestrial, atmospheric oxygen. (more…)
Do you ever wonder why we need kneecaps?
The demonstration shows how kneecaps provide leverage. I'm happy the Flying Spaghetti Monster built us this way.
Becky Molln, whose husband Nilay writes for The Verge, reviewed the Samsung UN40K6250AF television set. It's a fantastic rant.
The screen is curved, which means that it picks up and seemingly magnifies every glimmer of light in the room. Because that’s what you want in a television screen. The curved screen demands that you sit dead center of the TV unless you want to observe the equally frustrated facial expressions of the person sitting opposite you on the couch trying in vain to see through the glare. The glare is ridiculous. It’s so completely terrible that I give up after watching something for 30 seconds and walk away whisper-yelling swears at my sucker of a husband for bringing this piece of shit into my home. This television makes me hiss in anger.
The TV also constantly prompts for Tizen software updates by placing a banner over the top of the display and has advertising in the menus. I really, really should have gotten something else.
I'll bet Carla could write a similar review of our Samsung fridge. In fact, she has banned Samsung products from our home.
Though the crimes and abuses of the GW Bush era seem almost quaint in comparison to the trumpist agenda, the Bush actions spawned a new kind of protest movement, the first mature, networked resistance, which tried (unsuccessfully) to haul the Democratic Party away from finance-oriented neoliberalism and into a labor-oriented, diverse, racially aware left wing opposition party. (more…)
I discovered the Wendover Productions website last year when they posted a great video explaining why trains suck in America. Their latest video is an animated, fun-fact-filled tour through all 50 states in the US. One thing I learned is that a part of Canada is farther south than California.
In 1784, cabinetmaker David Roentgen (1743-1807) made this astonishing automaton of Marie Antoinette playing a dulcimer as a gift for King Louis XVI to give to his queen. This fantastic contraption is in the collection of the Musée des arts et métiers de Paris. From Atlas Obscura:
When wound up, the music box mechanism moves the figure’s head and arms, making them dance across the strings and chime out a ping-y tune. The player has a repertoire of eight songs...
It’s said that the beautiful lace dress was made from fabric of one of Marie Antoinette’s dresses, and that mannequin even has some of her real hair.
