Thursday, 31 May 2018

The time Davy Crockett met Bigfoot who warned him about the Alamo

In 1835, Davy Crockett reportedly wrote a letter to his brother-in-law Abner Burgin telling him of a rather strange experience in the Mexican province of Texas just six months before Crockett was killed at the Battle of the Alamo. From the letter:

“William and I were pushing through some thicket, clearing the way, when I sat down to mop my brow. I sat for a spell, watching as William made his good and fine progress. I removed my boots and sat with my rations, thinking the afternoon a fine time to lunch. As the birds whistled and chirped, and I ate my small and meager ration, I tapped my axe upon the opposite end of the felled tree I rested upon.

“Whether it was the axe’s disturbance or possibly the heat of the sun which caused an apparition to slowly form in front of my eyes, I know not. As a Christian man, I swear to you, Abe, that what spirit came upon me was the shape and shade of a large ape man, the likes we might expect among the more bellicose and hostile Indian tribes in the Territories. The shade formed into the most deformed and ugly countenance. Covered in wild hair, with small and needling eyes, large broken rows of teeth, and the height of three foundlings, I spit upon the ground the bread I was eating.

“The monster then addressed a warning to me. Abner, it told me to return from Texas, to flee this Fort and to abandon this lost cause. When I began to question this, the creature spread upon the wind like the morning steam swirls off a frog pond. I swear to you, Abner, that whatever meat or sausage disagreed with me that afternoon, I swore off all beef and hog for a day or so afterward.”

"Sasquatch Classics: The Davy Crockett Incident" (Texas Cryptid Hunter via The Anomalist)

Carvel's Fudgie the Whale ice cream cake is now also a beer

Fudgie the Whale is back. But this time it's not just a "whale of a cake," it's a whale of a beer.

On Wednesday, Carvel announced a stout brewed with chocolate crunchies and fudge, aptly named Fudgie the Beer. The stout is a limited-edition Father's Day collaboration with craft microbrewery Captain Lawrence Brewing Company in Elmsford, New York.

The novelty brew is said to have "smooth cocoa notes with a roasted crunchies finish" and would pair well with "roasted or smoked foods as well as chocolate or espresso desserts." If you have a "whale of a dad" and need to get your hands on this special beer, you'll have to head to New York state, as it's only available at the Captain Lawrence Beer Hall. (If you want some for real, be sure to check when it will be available again. The first batch sold out yesterday evening.)

I have just one question: Why, oh why isn't this an ale? It could have been a whALE of a beer. https://youtu.be/3Hr9sjpekp4

For old times' sake, here's the original ad for the Fudgie the Whale cake narrated by Tom Carvel himself: https://youtu.be/rS6ki8D7zQA

Kamasi Washington's killer new soul-jazz track inspired by videogame arcades of yore

Cosmic saxophonist, composer, and spiritual jazz revivalist Kamasi Washington has released a new jam inspired by his teenage experiences at the videogame arcade. "Street Fighter Mas" will appear on Washington's forthcoming album "Heaven and Earth" out June 22. Listen:

Washington says:

When I was younger, I was in between the end of the arcade generation and the beginning of the console generation. We used to go to this place called Rexall to play Street Fighter. At Rexall, there would be different people from different hoods there playing the game. It was the one place that was like an equalizer. It was just about how good you were at Street Fighter...for the most part. In other places, you were afraid of these dudes; there, you would just play the game and it was what it was, you know? I was really good at Street Fighter, so where the song really came from was me jokingly saying I was going to have my own theme song so that when I showed up to play Street Fighter they’d play my theme song before I came in, like a boxer. In the context of the album, it was the connection that we got with those guys in our neighborhood. We used to call them OGs, the older guys that we looked up to.

In a lot of ways, for me, video games was the way I connected with them because I was never affiliated with any gangs, but I knew them and I was cool with them and that was mainly through the video games. At an older age I thought how amazing would it be if the OGs could just play the game and solve their problems that way. The meaning within the scope of the record is a connection to the past and all of the many ways we can connect.



This Alexa-enabled smartwatch is cheaper than an Apple Watch

Smartwatches are pretty neat, but some of us still appreciate the classic aesthetic that comes with toting around an analog timepiece. Martian mVoice Smart Watches with Amazon Alexa let you leverage push notifications, voice commands, and the like, while adorning your wrist with their sharp, uncluttered 24-hour analog clock displays. They're available in the Boing Boing Store for $69.99. In addition to classing up your wrist, these smartwatches help you stay connected with push notifications from hundreds of your favorite social, news, fitness, sports, and other apps. You can make and respond to calls right from your wrist and get more done with a number of voice commands thanks to its Amazon Alexa compatibility. What's more, in the event you misplace your phone, you can call your device simply by tapping the Martian menu. The Martian mVoice Smart Watches with Amazon Alexa are available in the Boing Boing Store for $69.99 today.

Baseball team to wear jerseys that look like Mister Rogers' sweater

The South Bend Cubs, a minor league baseball team in South Bend, Indiana, will be wearing special jerseys that look like Mister Rogers' iconic red cardigan for a special event in August.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, the South Bend Cubs will host Mister Rogers Day at Four Winds Field on Sunday, August 12 at their scheduled 2 p.m. game at Four Winds Field in South Bend, Indiana.

In recognition of this 50th anniversary, the South Bend Cubs are partnering with local PBS affiliate WNIT and Fred Rogers Productions to celebrate this milestone. Clips from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood will be shown on the video board throughout the game. Daniel Tiger, star of the award-winning PBS KIDS series Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood and the son of the beloved original puppet, will also be in attendance. Fans can sign a giant banner with their own message of thanks to Mister Rogers. Special messages of thanks from fans, players, and community members will also be shown throughout the game.

According to the team, replicas of the shirt will not be sold to the public but "game worn ones will be available in an online auction with proceeds to benefit local PBS station WNIT."

Lead image via Darren Rovell , second image via MILB.com

Thanks, Andy!

PSA: Your birth control pills could be placebos

This one's for the ladies. According to Stat, Allegra is recalling 170,000 packs of their Taytulla birth control pills because the first four pills in each of the packs are placebos, instead of medicine that'll keep babies, severe cramping, and all the other things that the pills are typically prescribed for, at bay. The sketchy packs are all from a single lot of pills that were doled out as samples to physicians. So if your doctor provided you with some free Taytulla birth control pills, you'll want to check their lot number. From Allegra:
As a result of this packaging error, oral contraceptive capsules, that are taken out of sequence, may place the user at risk for contraceptive failure and unintended pregnancy. The reversing of the order may not be apparent to either new users or previous users of the product, increasing the likelihood of taking the capsules out of order. If patients have concerns regarding the possibility of an unintended pregnancy they should consult their physician. This product is an oral contraceptive indicated for the prevention of pregnancy in women who elect to use oral contraceptives. The TAYTULLA  pill pack is a 28 count blister card that has 24 "active" pink softgel capsules (with hormones) with "WC" printed on the outer shell in white to be taken for 24 days, followed by 4 maroon softgel capsules (without hormones) also imprinted with "WC" on one side to be taken for the next four days. If you are a patient in the U.S. who has used a TAYTULLA sample pack from lot 5620706, Exp. May 2019 since August 27, 2017, and are concerned that you may be impacted by this issue, please consult with your physician. This product was distributed Nationwide to healthcare providers.
That lot number again is 5620706. If the pills you've got on hand list that number on their packaging, you'll want to call your doctor to arrange a return of the pills, instructions on what to do and, hopefully, be fixed up with some replacement medication that actually works.

Image: 由Bryancalabro - 自己的作品CC BY-SA 3.0链接

My science fiction story about EFF's proposed jailbreaking exemption

Every three years, the US Copyright Office lets the public beg for limited exemptions to Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which bans bypassing DRM, even in your own property, even for strictly legal reasons. (more…)



What Toto's "Africa" is really about

I admit that I dig Toto's "Africa" (1982). No irony. I've always loved it. And once again, the song is all over our news feeds thanks to Weezer's fan-inspired cover of it. (My favorite cover though is this one by Low.) But what the hell is the song actually about? Based on comments from Toto, it seems the meaning has evolved as sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti. From Wikipedia:

Jeff Porcaro explains the idea behind the song: "a white boy is trying to write a song on Africa, but since he's never been there, he can only tell what he's seen on TV or remembers in the past."

Paich said:

At the beginning of the '80s I watched a late night documentary on TV about all the terrible death and suffering of the people in Africa. It both moved and appalled me, and the pictures just wouldn't leave my head. I tried to imagine how I'd feel about if I was there and what I'd do.

In 2015, Paich explained the song is about a man's love of a continent, Africa, rather than just a personal romance. In 2018, Paich explained the song is about a person flying in to meet a lonely missionary. As a child, Paich attended a Catholic school. Several of the teachers had done missionary work in Africa, and this became the inspiration behind the line "I bless the rains down in Africa."

(via r/totayilearned)



Tell your parents: Trump is lying to them about Medicare

The Center for Medicare Advocacy, Justice in Aging, and the Medicare Rights Center have issued a joint statement condemning the 2018 edition of Medicare & You, the annual guide published by the federal government; the groups say that the Trump administration is lying to seniors in order to trick them into switching to privatized, HMO-run Medicare Advantage programs, away from the superior, publicly maintained Meidcare system. (more…)



Leaked memos reveal the deep divisions within Google over Pentagon contract

Google's decision to provide AI tools for use with US military drones has been hugely controversial within the company (at least a dozen googlers quit over it) and now the New York Times has obtained internal memos revealing how senior officials at the company anticipated that controversy and attempted (unsuccessfully) to head it off. (more…)



A Hyatt valet somehow parks a Porsche underneath an SUV in bizarre accident

Porsche's can be a tricky car to maneuver if you've never driven one before (I know – I parked cars for private parties as a teenager and panicked every time I got into a Porsche), but how a hotel valet managed to park a Porsche Carrera underneath an SUV poses a real challenge to the imagination. The scene was so bizarre, a bystander thought they were shooting a movie.

The valet, working at a Hyatt Regency in Sydney, Australia, took the Porsche out of its park position and immediately hit the orange car that was in its way. He then, apparently, accelerated, nosing his way underneath the SUV until the SUV was resting comfortably on top of the Porsche. In the process, a third car was pushed into some posts.

According to CNN:

"I saw the valet hit the car in front from a parked position," said Jonathan Bouzaid, who watched events unfold and posted photos to Instagram.

"He then must have panicked and hit the accelerator causing the Porsche to go further under the orange car and pushing the white car into the bollards," Bouzaid said.

"I think the valet wasn't aware of the power that you get when starting a Porsche," he added. The luxurious Porsche Carrera can accelerate from 0 to 100km/h in less than five seconds, according to the company's website.

The valet had to be cut free from the wreckage but wasn't hurt and was sent home to rest, said Camilla Cooper, a spokeswoman from the Hyatt Regency hotel in central Sydney.



Incredible rare 1930s color footage of the World's Tallest Man

As a kid, my favorite photos in the Guinness Book of World Records were the massive McGuire Twins on their motorcycles, the guy with the crazy long fingernails, and of course Robert Wadlow (1918-1940) who at 8'11" is considered the tallest person in human history. Above is amazingly weird film footage of Wadlow taken in the 1930s.

Governments all over the world buy spy products that let them track and eavesdrop on global cellphones, especially US phones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfnVvptL-8E

Senator Ron Wyden [D-OR] has sent a letter to the DHS with his view that "nefarious actors may have exploited" the cellular phone system "to target the communications of American citizens." (more…)



Amazon bars Australians from shopping on its non-Aussie sites to put pressure on the government to rescind tax rule

Australian retailers are required to collect 10% Value Added Tax on every sale; Amazon's Australia store collects this tax, but the company has rejected any suggestion that its non-Australian stores should collect the tax on shipments bound for Australia. (more…)



Telegram: ever since Russia's blocking demand, Apple has prevented us from updating our app

Last April, the Kremlin ordered a ban on the private messaging app Telegram, blocking millions of IP addresses that formed Amazon and Google's clouds in order to prevent users from accessing the service; not only was it an ominous moment in the evolution of the internet as a system for oppressive control, it was also an object lesson in how internet concentration has made the internet more susceptible to censorship and control. (more…)



Last night was Manhattanhenge: It. Was. Glorious.

I'm obsessed with Manhattanhenge, the two nights a year when the sunset aligns with the prevailing east-west streets of the New York City grid, a phenomenon that Neil deGrasse Tyson named in 1992. (more…)



Mesmerizing timelapse of Kilauea lava flows

Tyler Hulett shot "River of Fire" at Kilauea before the previous eruption, but it still stands as some of the best lava timelapse out there. (more…)



Watch what happens when you combine a yacht and a tank

If you're tired of dropping anchor offshore and having to take a dinghy or worse from your yacht to the beach, the Iguana Yacht may be for you. It has a tank-like continuous track system built into the ship's hull, allowing the operator to go from sea to land without scratching up the bottom of the boat. (more…)



Happytime Murders film successfully trolls Sesame Street into marketing the film

Sesame Street lawyers are not happy that Jim Henson's son Brian has a raunchy puppet film coming out called Happytime Murders. After they filed a suit against the film, Henson retained a crack puppet lawyer named Fred (above) to defend them. (more…)



Watch this intense film about a Russian steelworker

This striking visual profile of a worker at the gargantuan Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works by director Evgenii Bakirov features Vladimir, The Metallurgist. The Russian title (горновой [the mountain]) is Vladimir's nickname. (more…)



36 Days of Type's annual crowdsourced submissions did not disappoint

36 Days of Type is a long-running collaborative design project where different artists render letters and numbers in a unique style. This year's entries are as delightful as always. (more…)



Rail operator angers pound shop after comparing own poor service to Poundland chocolate

Poundland is a British discount retailer where everything costs a pound. Thameslink is a British railroad operator suffering from freqently late or cancelled services. Ferrero Rocher is an inexpensive but fancy chocolate snack famously marketed with the line "Why, ambassador, with these Rocher you are spoiling us."

Last week, a traveler mocked Thameslink by tweeting a photo of its sad cancellation-strewn departure board with the quip "Why, Ambassador ... with this fine service you are really spoiling us."

Thameslink, in a tweet later deleted, replied "Very sorry Kevin. Appreciate at the moment the service is less Ferrero Rocher and more Poundland cooking chocolate."

Poundland chocolate responded to defend the quality of their chocolate, issued a legal threat, and suggested that Thameslink travelers might not reach their destination: "You’re ‘off the rails’"

The BBC reports that apologies were subsequently issued.

Watch people turn their bodies into black light art

Black Light Visuals travels to music concerts and lets festival-goers dip their arms into vats filled with their fluorescent dyes, leaving them with marbled appendages that glow in black light. (more…)



Taking a ride on Space Mountain with the lights on

We've previously seen what Space Mountain looks like with its lights on from the vantage point of the Wedway Peoplemover. Now, we get to experience the roller coaster with the lights on as if we were riding it in this POV video by Theme Park University.

I have two personal things to say about this:

1. In the early 1980s, my mom and I took a ride on WDW's Space Mountain when its lights were on. I don't remember why the lights were on but we talked about it for years afterwards. I was 12 years old at the time.

2. Earlier this year, I took my 13-year-old daughter to Disneyland and we rode Space Mountain, in the dark. I hadn't ridden it in many years because the line is always so long and I'm sad to report that it made me queasy because it was so dark. My kid, however, loved it, got in the single rider line and rode a few more times.

(reddit)

Sandworms are real

In this video, a dead fish is used to tease a Bobbit worm (Eunice aphroditois) into revealing its vicious skill as an ambush predator. Fortunately, it's all happening underwater, far away from me.

Grace Jones ominously asks: Do you know where your children are?

In many markets, 20th-century TV stations ran PSAs right before the local evening news reminding parents that they should probably know where their children are. This 1979 gem from Grace Jones may be the best one. (more…)



New pole at Wal Mart struck 10 times in first week

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIxuxfsSGNI&feature=youtu.be

The Bayou Vista Wal Mart put up a new pole in its parking lot and vehicles struck it ten times in a week. The pole was given the nickname "Patrick" and is now protected by an honor guard of shopping carts. There are no plans to relocate it.

Delightful creatures frolicking in the waves

Swimming pigs, splashing horses, and diving bulls await in this lovely roundup of animals swimming, some of whom are a bit surprising to see taking to water so eagerly. (more…)



Watch this machinist create five extremely tiny nested cubes

A turner's cube is a traditional machinist's exercise to test consistency and tolerances when milling metal. But this two-millimeter cube in a cube in a cube in a cube in a cube is next-level skill. (more…)



Lost Voice Guy is headed to Britain's Got Talent's finals

In late April, I posted about a stand-up comedian who cannot speak without the assistance of his synthetic computer voice. His performance won over the audience at his Britain's Got Talent audition.

Now, Lost Voice Guy (aka Lee Ridley) is back on stage for the competition show's semi-finals with another brilliant set.

His performance landed him a spot as one of the two acts to head to the finals (!) this Sunday: https://youtu.be/liZ7cnigLPs

Bethesda reveals latest Fallout game

Bethesda released a teaser trailer for their next game in the Fallout series, Fallout 76, and man, I am so ready for it.

Having been around to play Fallout Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics in the late 1990s all I wanted was more Fallout. Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas definitely scratched that itch (New Vegas is one of the best RPGs of all time, and yes, I will fight you over it.) Fallout 4, I loved. It was a departure from the feel of the games that came before it, but it wasn't long until I got into the rhythm of the game. It's hands-down one of my favorite games of all time. Despite my love affair with the series, there's a VERY good chance that Fallout 76 will be an entirely different animal than anything that's come before in the franchise. A big clue to this is smack dab in the middle of the game's title: Vault 76. In Fallout 3, Vault 76 was listed in a Citadel computer terminal as being a "control" vault. It makes sense: with every other vault encountered in the Fallout Universe has been screwed with by Vault-Tec scientists, subjecting the vault's occupants to a wide array of social experiments. Vault-Tec would need a control vault to illustrate what sane, well adjusted vault dwellers who were left alone with everything they'd need to survive a nuclear disaster would look like. There's a good chance that anyone coming out of this vault would be healthy, mentally stable and well supplied. So of course, things will go terribly wrong. Even more interesting than seeing the game churn out a story based on exisiting lore, there's whispers from Bethesda's camp that Vault 76 could be a multiplayer experience. From Kotaku:

When Bethesda announced Fallout 76 with a teaser trailer this morning, promising more information at E3, it was easy to assume that the new game would be a traditional single-player role-playing game. But Fallout 76 is in fact an online survival RPG that’s heavily inspired by games like DayZ and Rust, according to three people familiar with the project. Those people, speaking anonymously so as not to damage their careers, confirmed that Fallout 76 is an experimental new entry in the longrunning post-apocalyptic series. When Bethesda first teased the game on Tuesday morning, fans and pundits speculated that it might be a Fallout 3 remaster or a New Vegas-style spinoff in a new location, but as Kotaku reported that afternoon, it is in fact something completely new and completely different. The teaser might lead Fallout fans to believe that this is a traditional entry in the series, but according to our sources, that’s not the case.
Given that my internet connectivity often comes from using my smartphone as a hotspot, an entirely online Fallout game could be something of a nightmare for me. But I absolutely adore the idea of an online RPG based in the Fallout world. Happily, we won't have to wait to hear more information on the game: Bethesda with be sharing what they have in store for fans of the Fallout Franchise (fingers crossed for a Fallout title on Nintendo Switch) at their E3 press conference on June 10th.      

Brilliant fashion analysis of Little Edie from Grey Gardens

Grey Gardens is one of the greatest documentaries of all time, and one of its subjects is style icon Little Edie Beale. YouTube channel The Ultimate Fashion History created a great bio and analysis of the eccentric recluse's impact on fashion. (more…)



Fanny pack sandals

Nike's new "Benassi JDI Fanny Pack" slide sandals may be the perfect footwear to don while sporting another hybrid fashion choice, the shirt-shirt.

Summer's looking stylish AF!

Ok, I'm only half kidding, these slides are not that bad. In fact, they'd be great for stashing keys and other small items. (That shirt-shirt tho... that's gotta go.)

As far as I can tell, the sandal's release date has not been set yet.

(The Cut)

image via US11 via Sole Collector

Watch this guy demonstrate his state-of-the-art prosthetic fingers

Naked Prosthetics creates custom-fitted hand and finger prostheses that allow an impressive range of fine motor skills to be done by the wearer, like holding and striking a match or unscrewing a tiny cap.

Matt Finney lost parts of two fingers and his thumb from gangrene stemming from a blood clot. It's cool to hear him talk about how this changed his life. Here's some of the many other demonstrations on their channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu1s2EW26E0

Naked Prosthetics Matt Finney (YouTube / Naked Prosthetics)

Wednesday, 30 May 2018

Failed attempt to move boat engine with a pickup truck

Four men with a pickup try to move a boat engine. A woman videotapes it. The engine is suspended on a chain attached to a small crane in the back of the pickup. For some reason, the woman says, "Hit the gas, Doug." For some reason, Doug does as he's told, with disastrous consequences. The woman thinks it's funny. Maybe that's why she told Doug to hit the gas. She knows he'll do anything she tells him to do, and when it leads to trouble, it amuses her.

Image: YouTube screenshot

"Journalism Jesus" rises from the grave to tweak the nose of Russian intelligence officials

I’m starting a petition to have Arkady Babchenko henceforth referred to as "Journalism Jesus," Because holy shit, he just returned from the grave. Less than 24 hours after it was reported that the vehemently anti-Putin journalist had died on the way to hospital after being shot in the back outside of his apartment in Kiev, Ukraine, Babchenko strolled into a press conference being thrown by the Ukrainian government, like a boss of all bosses. It seems that a hitman, hired by the Russian government to permanently silence Babchenko for the sum of $40,000, decided that instead of pulling a trigger on the contract, he’d let Ukraine’s security intelligence people in on what was supposed to be happening. I say "supposed to," because things definitely did not go down the way that Mother Russia allegedly wanted them to. From the New York Times:

Mr. Babchenko created a sensation in Kiev on Wednesday by appearing at a news conference, billed as a police briefing about his assassination, at which he was greeted by whoops of surprise and scattered applause. It came less than 24 hours after his wife said she had found him bleeding to death on the floor of their apartment, shot in the back. “First of all, I would like to apologize that all of you had to live through this, because I know the horrible feeling when you have to bury your colleagues,” Mr. Babchenko, 41, told the stunned room. “Separately, I want to apologize to my wife for all the hell she had to go through.”
Holy crap. At the press conference, Vasily Gritsak, who heads up Ukraine's security service, announced that his agency had faked Babchenko’s death to catch people who were trying to kill him, using the intelligence gleaned from the Babchenko's would-be hitman. According to Al Jazeera, Ukrainian authorities arrested an individual they believe was responsible for planning the plot against Babchenko earlier today. Babchenko had been aware of threats to his life for some time. The operation with Ukraine's security service had been going on for close to two months. Babchenko is a former Russian solider who saw, most likely, some pretty horrific action in Chechnya during the 1990s. After leaving the military, he became one of Russia's most renowned war correspondents. All that changed when he came out against the Russian military's policies on social media in recent years. In 2017, afraid for his life, he left Russia to set up shop in Kiev. Apparently, he didn't run quite far enough. There's been a rash of murdered journalists in Kiev in recent years that have gone unsolved. Happily, for the time being, at least, Babchenko isn't among them. Image via Wikipedia Commons

240 compostable dog poop bags (unfilled)

These compostable sacks for poo are better than the ones I was previously using. They are made .

Walking my dogs, and general yard clean-up at home, tends to consume 2-4 dog poop bags a day! Ever since supermarkets started charging for bags, I have been buying my own. I started to wonder about how much plastic I was sending to the dump. Quick reading online suggested that cornstarch based bags was the way to go. Internet forums are the one source of truth.

These work for picking up poop. They are not terribly hard to open once ripped off the roll and poop stays in them until I have dropped the whole load in the trash. The bags meet US and European compostable standards: ASTM D6400 and EN13432, so they'll breakdown. You do not want to throw these into your home compost pile, however, as dog poo doesn't do well there.

PET N PET Compostable Poop Bags Dog Waste Bags Pet Clean up Bags Green Eco-Friendly, Certified By US BPI And EUR VINCOTTE.Meet ASTM 6400, EN13432, 240 Counts Certified via Amazon

NYC gynecologist files $1 million lawsuit against woman for 1-star Yelp review

Dr. Joon Song, a gynecologist in New York, has filed a $1 million lawsuit against Michelle Levine for leaving bad reviews on Yelp and other review sites.

From CBS:

“After I got a bill for an ultrasound and a new patient visit, whatever that means, and it was not billed as an annual I wrote a review about it,” she told CBS2’s Lisa Rozner.

She says she complained to the doctor’s office, but nothing happened. The lengthy critical review, among other things, complained of “very poor and crooked” business practices and was posted on sites like Yelp, Zocdoc, and Healthgrades.

“And I gave them one star on Facebook, which they also put in their complaint,” Levine said.

After getting sued, Levine says she took down all her reviews but Dr. Song still wants her to pay around $1 million in damages plus legal fees.

Levine has so far spent $20,000 defending herself against the lawsuit. Dr. Song's attorney told CBS: "While everyone is entitled to their opinion, outright lies masquerading as reviews can inflict serious damage to a medical practice or small business."

Quantifying the massive premium paid to people who work in "bullshit jobs"

It's been five years since David Graeber's original, groundbreaking essay on "bullshit jobs" (socially useless busywork that everyone -- including the holders of bullshit jobs -- knew to be a tremendous waste of time), and now he's got a whole book on the subject (if you're in LA, you can see me interviewing him about it on June 13). (more…)



Gentleman jailed for YouTube stunt at Disney resort

Dillion Burch, 22, was arrested for telling guests at Disney's Contemporary Resort in Orange County, FL, that an "active shooter" was on the premises. He videotaped the guests' reactions with the intention of posting them to his YouTube channel. As a result, the resort was locked down. Police found Burch hiding in some bushes on the property and arrested him for disturbing the peace and disorderly intoxication.

Via Orlando Sentinel.

Puerto Rico's Hurricane Maria death toll is 70 times higher than the official count

According to the Trump administration, Hurricane Maria killed 64 people; according to a careful, peer-reviewed study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the death toll was 4645. (more…)



Which '3-2-1 Contact' theme is your favorite?

One of my favorite TV shows as a kid had a rockin' 80s style theme, 3-2-1 Contact made science exciting.

https://youtu.be/KmQWtGn889E

The very first episode opens with the making of this fantastic track, but they re-cut it several times over the life of the show.

I have a hard time picking a favorite. Which is yours?

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

I also loved the Villa Allegre theme.

An analysis of all those Internet of Things manifestos sparked by the slow-motion IoT catastrophe

The Internet of Things morphed from a ridiculous answer in search of a problem ("why do I want my fridge connected to the internet?") to a source of Black Mirror-style modern absurdities ("someone pushed a load of internet porn to my fridge") to an existential threat ("my fridge just joined a world-killing botnet"). (more…)



How much are teachers paid in every US state?

How much money are teachers in the US paid? The correct answer, of course, is "not enough." As nationwide teacher strikes continue, HowMuch created infographics showing the average annual teacher salary by state. Above is the elementary school infographic.

The coasts offer the highest salaries, led by liberal states like New York and California, where teachers can make tens of thousands of dollars more than the national average wage of about $49k. There are also a couple of states in the Upper Midwest where teachers can make between $60-70,000, including Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan. The combination of above-average incomes with great benefits like a pension make these places ideal for teachers.

See the middle school and high school data here: "The Best (and Worst) States for Teacher Compensation"

Map of Britain's roads... and nothing else

jamaps created this map that shows all the main roads in Britain and nothing else, giving the vague impression of something weirdly biological.

Autonomous boats in some cities could transport people, shuttle goods, and self-assemble into structures

MIT researchers designed and prototyped small, autonomous boats that they think could go a long way to improving urban mobility and reducing traffic in cities with waterways like Amsterdam, Bangkok, and Venice. The 3D-printed hulls are rectangular to enable them to more easily connect with each other. Each side features an independent thruster to increase its agility. From MIT News:

“Imagine shifting some of infrastructure services that usually take place during the day on the road — deliveries, garbage management, waste management — to the middle of the night, on the water, using a fleet of autonomous boats,” says (MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory) director Daniela Rus, co-author on a paper describing the technology that’s being presented at this week’s IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

Moreover, the boats — rectangular 4-by-2-meter hulls equipped with sensors, microcontrollers, GPS modules, and other hardware — could be programmed to self-assemble into floating bridges, concert stages, platforms for food markets, and other structures in a matter of hours. “Again, some of the activities that are usually taking place on land, and that cause disturbance in how the city moves, can be done on a temporary basis on the water,” says Rus, who is the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

The boats could also be equipped with environmental sensors to monitor a city’s waters and gain insight into urban and human health.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktYViivw27A

Making tires out of duct tape and rubber bands

A group of guys from the YouTube channel Life OD first crafted a working tire out of $80 worth of duct tape, then they daisy-chained 100,000 rubber bands together to make another one.

Why? Apparently, because they can. https://youtu.be/I5M2KQpeTv4

(Likecool)

Weezer fan convinced band to cover Toto's "Africa"

Weezer revealed their cover of Toto's 1982 hit "Africa" on Tuesday.

It was a matter of "giving the fans what they want," as the Weezer fan Twitter account @weezerafrica began suggesting the band "bless the rains down in africa" late last year. https://twitter.com/weezerafrica/status/938406456302489600

In early December, Noisey reported that a 14-year-old Cleveland girl named Mary, "who has been learning Weezer songs in her School of Rock cover band," was behind the account.

Mary has been busy tweeting at the band members with her humble request and has been encouraging others to do the same. “it’s about time you blessed the rains down in africa,” she tweeted at Cuomo on Wednesday. Agreed, it is time. She even got a reply from drummer Patrick Wilson. “I laughed,” he said. But Mary, with a determined, unbreakable focus on her goal, replied: “thank you for replying patrick. it has made me feel almost as blessed as the rains down in africa.”

The band is currently on a North American tour. No word if they'll be playing the song live.