LATEST GIST AROUND THE WORLD: November 2019

Saturday, 30 November 2019

Read Best-Selling Books in Minutes With This Micro Book Library

Reading is a great way to uncover new ideas. But for many of us, setting aside time for books can be a challenge. The 12min Micro Book Library provides the perfect solution. This mobile app offers condensed versions of important non-fiction books, meaning you can digest big ideas during your lunch break.

Available on iOS and Android, the 12min library delivers 30 new micro books every month on a range of topics. On the virtual shelves, you'll find best-selling titles such as Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon and Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini.

Each micro book takes just a few minutes to read, but it includes all the key ideas from the full-length book. The app can store micro books offline or send a copy to your Kindle. If you prefer, you can listen to an audio version of any micro book.

The 12min app is a great way to squeeze inspiring books into a packed schedule. Normally worth $346.50, lifetime access is currently $17.40 when you use coupon code BFSAVE40 this Black Friday.

Pick Up a Drone for Less This Black Friday Weekend With These DJI Deals

When it comes to drone technology, one name stands out: DJI. The company makes some of the best quadcopters currently available, along with some ultra-cool video cameras. Over Black Friday weekend, there are some great deals available on DJI tech — here are five of the best:

Ryze Tech Tello Quadcopter Iron Man Edition Powered by DJI

Perfect for any Iron Man devotee, this palm-sized quadcopter has a 720p HD camera onboard. It also has several flight modes, and pilots can program the drone to perform tricks using Scratch or Python. This special edition Tello offers 13 minutes of flight time and a range of 100 meters.

Sale Price: $129

DJI Mavic Mini: The Everyday Flycam

Weighing under 0.55 pounds, the Mavic Mini is no heavier than a smartphone. In spite of being a featherweight, this drone has a 3-axis gimbal and a camera that can send back live 2.7K quad-HD video to the supplied controller. Pilots can also set up cinematic shots with just a few taps.

Sale Price: $399

DJI RoboMaster S1 STEM Education Robot

This ground-based drone brings science and maths to life. Pilots can use custom code to guide the built-in artificial intelligence, and the S1 has 46 customizable components. It also has a camera for first-person piloting, and two-way audio for long-distance communication.

Sale Price: $549

Ryze Tech Tello Quadcopter Powered by DJI

The regular version of the Tello drone is an even better value. It has the same 720p camera with auto-stabilization and 13 minutes of flight time. Ideal for beginners, this drone even has auto-takeoff and landing.

MSRP: $162

Sale Price: $99

DJI Osmo Action 4K HDR Camera

This powerful pocket camera captures videos at 4K resolution and 60fps, while using HDR technology to balance contrast. The front-facing screen is great for vlogging, and you can create epic action shots with 8x slow motion. This camera can even go underwater, with 11 meters of waterproofing.

MSRP: $379

Sale Price: $279

Can-opener bridge, recently raised 8 inches, claims another victim

When the infamous 11-foot-8 bridge of Durham, North Carolina was raised 8 inches last month, fans of the videos showing trucks getting their tops sheared off were bummed out. But it looks like their despair was premature.

From the 11-foot-8 YouTube channel:

On November 26, the new 12foot4 canopener tried to snag its first truck, but it only managed to get a nibble! Still, we're counting it as "crash #151" since the truck was clearly damaged. I actually collected the piece that fell off :)

Extra virgin olive oil prevented build-up of toxic proteins in brains of mice

Researchers fed extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) to mice that are genetically engineered to get dementia from the accumulation of toxic proteins (tau proteins) in the brain that lead to alzheimer's. After six months the researchers saw a "60% reduction in toxic tau deposits in the brains of the mice fed the EVOO-enriched diet compared to the mice eating a regular diet," reports Forbes.

The article includes some caveats to this promising news:

While this line of research is promising (along with the list of EVOO studies leading up to the latest), a few limitations apply. Mouse research can point to important directions for human research, but it’s not the same as human research and does not demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship between EVOO and brain-health benefits for humans. The positive results found in this and related studies suggest potential benefits, but they are not “proof” of anything.

Along with that limitation, it’s also important to note that the accumulation of tau in the human brain typically occurs over many years, for reasons we’re only starting to understand. The mice in this and related studies have been genetically altered to develop a similar condition in a matter of months. While this acceleration provides a useful model for research, it’s not nearly the same as what happens in humans over the course of decades.

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

A day in the life of a 23-year-old Tokyo game programmer

Masa is a 23-year-old game programmer at Bandai Namco Studios in Tokyo. In this 13-minute-video made by Paolo From Tokyo, we see what Masa's life is like, from the moment his alarm goes off in the morning until he is back at home making a Gundam model before he goes to sleep.

From the YouTube description:

We'll even interact with directors from popular Japanese video game titles such as Tekken and CodeVein. Plus we'll get to see what a Japanese programmer from one of the large Video Game companies in Japan does after work with friends. This look inside a Japanese game dev's life is pretty unique and should provide some insight for those people who want to work in Japan as a game developer or game programmer. Also, this day in the life of a Japanese programmer will show you what it takes to be a Japanese programmer. As you would expect, most of the work day is spent programming and coding, but there are other unique aspects of the Japanese programmers life we are able to see in this video.

Image: YouTube

Learn Speed Reading Techniques From World-Leading Experts With ZapReader

The problem with being a slow reader is that it takes longer to wade through emails and study for exams. Thankfully, anyone can improve their reading speed. ZapReader is an online platform that offers coaching from world-leading speed reading experts with scientifically designed exercises. Many users report a three-fold increase in reading speed without losing comprehension.

When kids first learn to read, they often pick up bad habits — such as speaking words aloud or reading sentences twice. These habits can stick with you for life, and they prevent faster reading.

ZapReader helps users shrug off those bad reading habits. The platform combines six hours of video tutorials with reading exercises that are designed to correct flaws in your reading technique.

In addition, ZapReader offers special reading software which helps you put speed reading into practice. The software works with 46 different file types, including Word documents, PDFs and even Photoshop files. ZapReader also creates detailed reading speed reports, so you can see the change over time.

For anyone looking for a productivity boost, ZapReader holds the key. Worth $499, lifetime access is now $23.99 with 40% off coupon code BFSAVE40.

Coop's Randotti skulls: now available as tights!

Artist Coop's revival of the outstanding skulls of the Randotti Corporation (as seen at Disneyland and Walt Disney World!) continues with a line of tights featuring Haunted Skull, Voodoo Skull and Pirate Skull.

This Device Turns Your iPhone Into a High-Quality Audio Recorder

Normally speaking, recording audio with your phone is a last resort. The built-in mic simply wasn’t designed for picking up guitar riffs and powerful vocals. However, the Shure MV88 Digital Stereo Condenser Microphone adds the necessary hardware for high-quality audio recordings. Made for iOS devices, this accessory is a must-have for any musician — and it's currently 19% off for Black Friday, priced at $149.

With matched cardioid and bi-directional 0.4" (1cm) cartridges, the MV88 can capture speech and song with remarkable clarity. The all-metal mic plugs into the Lightning port of your iPhone or iPad, with a hinge that allows you to find the perfect recording angle.

The MV88 is suitable for recording speech, singing, acoustic instruments, and many other sounds. The mic automatically optimizes EQ, compression, and limiting, and there are five different presets to choose from.

The free ShurePlus MOTIV app offers fine control over these settings, along with 24-bit/48 kHz .wav (uncompressed) recording.

The Shure MV88 is perfect for musicians, podcasters, and anyone who needs high-quality audio. It retails for $186, but you can get it now for $149 over Black Friday.

Friday, 29 November 2019

Learn a new language in 2020 with Babbel and save extra for Black Friday

As one year draws to a close and a new year is about to begin, it's common to assess what you've accomplished and start to set new goals. And whether you have the resolution to travel more, gain international work opportunities or strike up a conversation with your grandparents in their native tongue, there are many benefits to picking up a new language. Most people hit a point in learning a new language where progress comes to a screeching halt because it's difficult to maintain the consistency of practice — but Babbel was developed by expert linguists with a focus on making learning a new language both intuitive and accessible.

Babbel is the top-grossing language learning app in the world because it not only gives users 24/7 access to learn, develop and practice speaking and reading skills at any time, but it also breaks the lessons down into digestible chunks. You can practice in 10-15 minute-long increments that can fit into the busiest schedule and keep your pronunciation on point with speech recognition technology.

Go from a beginner to an advanced understanding of your pick of 14 languages ranging from Spanish and French, to Italian and German — and take your time learning, since this subscription gives you lifetime access to try your hand at all of them if you want to. The lessons cover a wide range of useful real-life topics that you can use to chat up locals, from travel to family, business to food and more.

Reinforce your learning with personalized review sessions and the freedom to study wherever and whenever you want: Babbel synchronizes your progress across your devices and even lets you access courses offline. All you need to do is download your lessons and review items beforehand, and you can learn when you're not connected to WiFi (like when you're on a plane or the subway).

Usually, a Babbel subscription is $399, but it's on sale now for $159. For a limited time, you can save an extra 40% off with coupon code BFSAVE40.

Don't wait for Black Friday — you can get these top-sellers at deep discounts today!

15 eLearning bundles on sale for 60% off for Black Friday

Between presents for your family and dedicating your free time to your friends, the best gift you can give yourself this holiday season is a reinvestment towards what fuels and nourishes you. We couldn't think of anything better than learning new skills or developing new hobbies for the new year, so we rounded up 15 eLearning bundles that not only offer a wide range of compelling content, they're on sale for an extra 60% off using coupon code BFSAVE60.

Short documentary about famous live concert bootlegger

Today is Black Friday Record Store Day and The National released a three-cassette box set titled The National: Juicy Sonic Magic, Live in Berkeley, September 24-25, 2018. But this isn't a typical soundboard recording. The National commissioned archivist Erik Flannigan to record their shows using techniques developed by famed bootlegger Mike "The Mic" Millard who died in 1994. Millard's recordings of concerts by Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones are considered some of the greatest concert bootlegs of all time. Above, a short documentary by Flannigan and filmmaker David DuBois about Mallard's life's work and The National's release. The illustrations are by my pal Jess Rotter, animated by Eben McCue. In the liner notes, Flannigan wrote:

Millard’s legend is built in part on the cunning and subterfuge he used to get his nearly 15-pound cassette deck and microphones into venues like the The Forum, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, and The Roxy.

For years I have pondered what made Millard’s recordings so good, and eventually I had an idea: What if you recorded a concert today with the same equipment Millard used in 1977? Would it sound like his tapes? Would it tap into his Midas touch?

The National was kind enough to let us test the Millard Method for two concerts at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California last September. These live recordings were made with vintage AKG 451E microphones and a restored Nakamichi 550 cassette deck which are identical to those used by Millard circa 1975-81. The idea was to see if we could recreate what Matt Berninger calls the “juicy sonic magic” Millard captured in his 1970s field recordings.

Good deal on these teeth whitening strips

With all the tea and coffee I drink, I use teeth whitening strips once a year or so. They work really well for me. I can see a noticeable difference after using them just once. Amazon has a good deal on the Crest 3D White Whitestrips Vivid Plus Teeth Whitening Kit, which has 12 treatments.

Eye exams in the United States are a scam

In many countries you can buy inexpensive eyeglasses and contact lenses without a prescription. That's not the case in the United States. In 2016 the American Optometric Association (AOA) spent $1.8 million lobbying and another $1.4 million in campaign contributions to ensure corrective lenses are expensive for Americans, and therefore highly profitable. Yascha Mounk, a contributing writer at The Atlantic, writes in her article, "The Great American Eye-Exam Scam:"

When I last went to an eye exam at a storefront optician in the United States, for example, the staff gave me the hard sell on glasses that would have cost hundreds of dollars, as well as on contact lenses that were much more expensive than identical ones sold by online retailers. Thankfully, I knew that two laws, one passed in 1997 and the other in 2003—which had, incidentally, been loudly opposed by the AOA—gave me the right to demand a copy of my prescription. I stood firm, and later went online to order perfectly fine glasses and contact lenses at a fraction of the price. But how many customers give in to heavy-handed sales tactics?

After reading this article, I ordered one of these vision checkers for $35, so I can test my vision and order eyeglasses online for a fraction of what it costs at a brick and mortar store.

Photo by nrd on Unsplash

Wealthy people are the most likely to give "spiteful gifts"

Finder reports that Americans waste $13 billion every year buying gifts that the recipients don't want. The most interesting part of the report was the section about "spiteful gifts," that is gifts that the giver knows the recipient will dislike:

Interestingly, we found that 15% of Americans — roughly 38 million people — have deliberately bought a present knowing their recipient wouldn’t like it. Men are about four times more likely than women to intentionally gift a bad present, with 25% of men surveyed saying they’d done it in the past, versus about 6% of women.

Of the generations, Gen Xers are most likely to knowingly give bad gifts, with 22% admitting they’ve done so. That’s only slightly higher than the rate for Gen Y (18%) but 11 times higher than the rate for boomers (2%).

Those with money to burn — people earning $100,000 to $150,000 — are most likely to buy spiteful presents, with 28% saying they’d done so. That’s almost three times higher than those earning between $50,000 and $75,000 (11%) and almost five times higher than those earning between $25,000 and $50,000 (6%).

The incredible optical illusion muralist of Odeith

Odeith is an artist in Portugal who paints ultra realistic murals. His portfolio has many examples of his work.

His Instagram account also has lots of photos of his paintings.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ODEITH (@odeith) on Oct 14, 2019 at 9:36am PDT

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A post shared by ODEITH (@odeith) on Jun 12, 2019 at 10:06am PDT

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A post shared by ODEITH (@odeith) on Apr 15, 2019 at 9:28am PDT

Maps of the lost streetcar and subway systems of North America

Jake Berman writes, "I've drawn a series of maps showing the lost streetcar and subway systems of North America." He's selling them as prints.

Italian cops raid neo-Nazis, find rifles, swords and Nazi literature

An Italian police raid of 19 homes of members of the Italian National Socialist Workers' Party uncovered troves of weapons, Nazi literature, and books about Hitler and Mussolini. "The self-styled party aimed to form a pan-European alliance with other xenophobic and anti-Semitic groups, police said, without revealing how many people had joined it. Tne suspect allegedly had links with the 'Ndrangheta criminal network while another, a 50-year-old woman, called herself Hitler's sergeant-major." (Thanks, Kathy Padilla!)

Writer asks for an exclusive trademark on the use of the word "dark" in "Series of fiction works, namely, novels and books"

Christine Feehan is the author of several bestselling series, including one simply called "Dark" -- in her trademark application with the USPTO, she has applied for the exclusive right to use the word "Dark" (in "standard characters without claim to any particular font style, size, or color") in "Series of fiction works, namely, novels and books."

Literally thousands of books have the word "dark" in their titles, including several series such as Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials and Stephen King's Dark Tower books.

In 2018, the independent author Faleena Hopkins created a stir when she trademarked the term "cocky" in connection with book titles, and then used the trademark to attack fellow authors who, it turned out, lost her trademark).

Hopkins isn't alone: the Austin-based erotic fantasy author Michael-Scott Earle sought a trademark on "Dragon Slayer" in book titles, and then a trademark on any book cover featuring a person holding a weapon. (In both cases he was denied his mark).

Feehan's application has not yet been assigned to an examiner. It was filed on her behalf by Greg Mavronicolas, a New York based attorney from the Mavronicolas Law Group PLLC.

USPTO application 88699997

This person is trying to trademark the word "dark" so only they can use it in titles.https://t.co/FWtf5e8aze

Meanwhile, on Amazon: 1-16 of over 40,000 results for Books : "dark"
— Cat Rambo (@Catrambo) November 28, 2019

You can pick up a Steam Controller for five bucks now

When I was a younger, much less experienced man, I bought a Steam controller. It cost me close to $100 in Canadian funds, but I thought it'd be well worth it. A controller that's great, according to the propaganda, for playing everything from point-and-click adventure games to the latest shooters? Who the hell wouldn't want that?

As it turns out, I did not want that.

I used it a few times before breaking down and buying an Xbox wireless controller to use instead. I dug that the Steam Controller allowed you to pretty much map PC game to it to allow for some epic couch gaming sessions. I loathed how cheap it felt and that, even when it was properly mapped to my PC games, It's poor accuracy made for a shitty gaming experience.

From Engadget:

Four years after Valve released its oddball Steam Controller, it's not making any more. The controller is on sale today for $5 -- that's 90 percent off its list price of $49.99 -- and a note in the Steam Store warns that there's a limited quantity remaining. Once those controllers are gone, Valve doesn't plan to make more, The Verge reports.

While most reviewers originally wrote the Steam Controller off as too weird, Valve sold over 500,000 in the first six months. It became one of the most configurable gaming devices -- you could play Street Fighter V strictly with motion controls or Serious Rocket League with the grips programmed for acceleration/brake and drift/boost.

Apparently, it's currently being liquidated for five bucks a pop. That's 90% off of it's normal asking price. If you've got a Steam account and want to give it a spin or have a thing for awkward gaming peripherals, here's your chance.

Image via Wikipedia Commons

Defense contractors gleefully report record earnings in divisions that bid on "classified" projects, the fastest-growing part of the Pentagon's budget

Classified Pentagon spending is the fastest-growing part of the US military budget, rising to 11% of the total $716b proposed for 2020; this spending is not subject to oversight and House Armed Services Committee Chair Adam Smith [D-WA] says it leads to waste.

Unsurprisingly, these black budgets are solid gold for defense contractors and other beltway bandits, whose shareholder disclosures include chortling celebrations of the record profits they're receiving for classified projects, with classified divisions growing than any other part of their businesses.

Raytheon boasts of "record classified bookings of nearly $7 billion" (up 46% in one year!). Northrup Grumman says its extra $1b in profit this year is largely due to its contributions to secret weapons programs.

But Lockheed is doing best of all, with its $600b "hypersonic weapon technology" contract mushrooming to $1b next year, and more in the pipeline.

For example, an uptick in classified deals have Lockheed Martin’s missiles and Skunk Works Advanced Development Programs divisions “growing faster than the corporation,” CFO Ken Possenriede said on a Tuesday conference call with Wall Street analysts.

This year, Lockheed received about $600 million for secret work to develop hypersonic weapon technology and prototypes. Next year, that’s expected to grow to “about $1 billion,” Possenriede said. And that’s just for weapons under development and not yet in serial production.

Possenriede also touted the potential for counter-hypersonic weapon work.

As Secret Pentagon Spending Rises, Defense Firms Cash in [Marcus Weisgerber/Defenseone]

(via Naked Capitalism)

(Image: Tracy O, CC BY-SA, modified)

Meet the Krazy Klown Kavalcade of racists, homophobes, islamophobes and transphobes serving as appointed South Carolina magistrates

South Carolina's system of appointed magistrates allows the state senate to appoint "judges" with no legal training, some of whom cannot pass a basic competency test on the first try, to hear over 800,000 cases a year; the magistrates are appointed and re-appointed without a background check (there's also a loophole that let some judges escape even that reappointment hearing, serving for 20 years without undergoing the process), allowing them to serve even after grave judicial misconduct.

The Post and Courier's Joseph Cranney has rounded up the dismal record of some of the state's magistrates, with particular emphasis on former state rep and retired cop Mike Pitts, whose public statements in the state house and on social media include saying that Cory Booker "alway [sic] looks like he just hit crack real hard"; complaining about seeing "people from the middle east in Walmart...after being subject to this incident I now support shutting down all immigration until we stop the demise of our culture"; "[transgender people] aren’t sure what the hell they are."

In office, Pitts tried to block the removal of the Confederate flag from the statehouse after the 2015 mass murder at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston; he proposed legislation to force journalists to register with the state; and he co-sponsored a 2018 bill "requiring South Carolina lawmakers to consider seceding from the Union if the federal government 'confiscates legally purchased firearms.'"

When Pitts retired from political life, he complained that he was having trouble finding a job, and made an unsuccessful bid for a patronage appointment as head of the South Carolina land conservation agency -- but found the background check too onerous (he called it an "aggressive inquisition" and blamed it for his failure to recover from a heart attack, saying that thanks to the background checks, "I tired quickly and realized that my cognitive skills have been affected.").

However, Pitts found no such difficulty being appointed to the bench months later, on the mere say-so of a single state senator, Danny Verdin.

Pitts is manifestly unqualified to serve as a judge, and given his public record, cases he hears involving people of color, immigrants, trans people, or other groups he has made discriminatory remarks about would be liable for appeal on the grounds of his obvious bias.

But Pitts isn't the only unqualified, racist, bigoted magistrate in South Carolina: Charleston Magistrate James Gosnell (reappointed in May 2019!) used a racist slur against a Black defendant during a bond hearing; Beaufort County Magistrate Peter Lamb no longer serves (he had to resign after calling crack "a Black man's disease" and committing other discriminatory acts that led to him entering into an agreement with the state Supreme Court whereby he can never seek judicial office again without the court's permission).

Republican state Rep. Gary Clary, a former state circuit judge, said the posts could be “grounds for recusal” in cases where people of color or transgender people appear before Pitts.

“That’s the reason judges don’t normally have Facebook and Twitter accounts,” Clary said. “You are supposed to be fair and impartial.”

State Sen. Dick Harpootlian, a Democrat, went further.

“None of us were aware of these posts, or his ethnic and racially insensitive comments, which I think disqualify him as a fair or impartial judge,” Harpootlian, a longtime trial lawyer, said after The Post and Courier described Pitts’ posts.

“If I was Muslim or of Middle Eastern descent, I would be fearful of appearing in front of him.”

A spokesman for Gov. Henry McMaster said no one brought the posts to his attention before McMaster, a Republican, signed off on Pitts’ appointment this year. The governor declined to expand on the issue.

He Defended the Confederate Flag and Insulted Immigrants. Now He’s a Judge. [Joseph Cranney/The Post and Courier]

Elisabeth Moss gets driven crazy in The Invisible Man

Universal's attempts to make their shared Dark Universe full of updated iterations of classic movie monsters, has so far, been kind of a failure. Sure The Mummy was flashy and filled with big names. but its script was lacking in the substance that made the original film so great. And while it wasn't a Dark Universe film, Universal's The Wolfman suffered from the same problem. From the looks of things, Universal's intellectual property losing streak may well change with The Invisible Man.

If the trailer is anything to go by,iIt looks to be full of suspense and possesses a plot that might put bums in seats once the reviews come in. That Elisabeth Moss, versatile actor that she is, has been cast as the lead gives me hope that maybe this will be a Universal monster movie worth the price of admission.

Sale on the Voyager Golden Record LP and CD sets and The Family Acid: California photobook!

After producing the Voyager Golden Record: 40th Anniversary Edition, my buddy Tim Daly and I launched a record/publishing label, Ozma Records, to publish creative works at the intersection of science, art, music, and consciousness. Today through Monday, we're having a special holiday sale on all of our releases! This is a rare opportunity to save 15% on the Voyager Golden Record 3xLP Box Set, the Voyager Golden Record 2xCD-Book edition, and our new limited photobook The Family Acid: California!

Voyager Golden Record 3xLP Box Set

In 1977, NASA launched two spacecraft, Voyager 1 and 2, on a grand tour of the solar system and into the mysteries of interstellar space. Attached to each of these probes is a golden phonograph record containing a message for any extraterrestrial intelligence that might encounter it, perhaps billions of years from now. Experience the Voyager Record the way it was meant to be played.

• Three translucent gold 140 gram vinyl LPs, containing all of the original Voyager Record audio, in poly-lined paper sleeves
• Three heavyweight jackets, gold ink on black
• Full-color 96-page softcover book containing all images included on the original Voyager Interstellar Record, gallery of images transmitted back from the Voyager probes, and a new essay by Timothy Ferris, producer of the original golden record
• Gold foil print of Voyager Golden Record cover diagram, archival paper, 12" x 12"
• Voyager trajectories turntable slipmat, gold ink on black felt
• Full-color plastic digital download card for all audio of the Voyager Golden Record (MP3 or FLAC formats)
• Housed in a deluxe record box with pull-ribbon, gold ink on black
• Includes free Voyager Golden Record diagram pin!

Voyager Golden Record 2xCD-Book Edition

• Full-color 96-page hardcover book (12” x 12”) containing all images included on the original Voyager Interstellar Record, gallery of images transmitted back from the Voyager probes, and new essay by Timothy Ferris, producer of the original golden record
• Two audio CDs containing all of the Voyager Golden Record music and sounds

The Family Acid: California Photobook + Blotter Print

For more than 50 years, photographer Roger Steffens has explored the electric arteries of the counterculture, embracing mind-expanding experiences, deep social connection, and unadulterated fun at every turn. Think of this book as a family album belonging to a very unconventional family exploring the visionary state they call home. This specially-priced package also includes the below photo print on LSD blotter paper (undipped), signed by Roger Steffens. (Both items also available separately.)

• Full-color 192 page clothbound hardcover book
• Tipped-on cover photograph and foil stamping
• More than 200 images
• Detailed captions and original essays by Roger Steffens and Tim Page
• Double exposure photo printed on perforated LSD blotter paper (undipped), 6.25” x 10”, signed on verso

The sale ends Monday night, November 26, at 11:59pm PST.

Happy holidays!

Someone has finally broken the Guinness World Record for long-distance throwing of a hot dog sausage in a bun

It's kind of remarkable that the Guinness Book of Records has managed to secure such a prominent place in our culture, considering it was literally invented to encourage people to argue over inane shit at the pub (particularly when drinking Guinness).

But here I am, in the Year of Our Lord Blade Runner, tearfully cheering on Amber VanHemel as she finally achieves her year-long dream of breaking the World Record for throwing a hot dog sausage over the longest distance while still nestled snugly in its bun.

Hot dog! Another world record SHATTERED at #MIT! Phoebe Li & Amber VanHemel broke the world record for "longest throw & catch of a hot dog/sausage into a bun." Previous record = 32.106 meters. Phoebe and Amber threw for 36.9 meters! #thisismit #guinnessrecord #worldrecord pic.twitter.com/LbCoBcupTj

— MIT CEE (@MIT_CEE) November 25, 2019

I'm not sure why Guinness felt the need to specify hot dog sausage, though perhaps it's to differentiate from a hot dog sandwich, the existence of which continues to reign as the greatest controversy of the modern era. Guinness has tracked plenty of other hot dog-related records without this same linguistic clarification—in fact, this particular feat of Olympian athleticism is the only Guinness record accompanied by that sausage qualifier. Along with this specificity, Guinness also included a size requirement—the hot dog sausage must measure between 5.5 and 7 inches in length, and be fully cooked when thrown.

According to the Boston Globe, VanHemel is currently a graduate student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT, where also pitched softball as an undergrad. After a lengthy and scientific hot dog sausage selection process and 20 real-life attempts to keep that weiner in its bun—all captured on livestream—VanHemel threw the record-breaking frankfurter about 120 feet or 36.59 meters, where it was caught by her friend Phoebe Li, another softball player from MIT.

With this mighty feat, VanHemel may have usurped the throne from David Rush, who only ever managed to throw a hot-dog-sausage-in-a-bun a measly 105 feet.

(I suppose it should be noted that David Rush has broken more than 120 Guinness records, most of them in a period of just 4 years. Which is far more than I have, but nothing compared to Ashrita, who, at 700 Guinness records, holds the Guinness record for the most broken Guinness records. Either way, I must extend my greatest sympathies to him in what must be a very difficult time of loss.)

Of course, VanHemel and Li do still have to provide the proper evidence to the Guinness authorities in order to prove their rightful ownership of the title. Because this dumb pub trivia shit is serious business.

MIT students appear to break record for longest hot dog toss, for some reason [Steve Annear/The Boston Globe]

Image via Wikimedia Commons

Woman calls cops on black UPS driver because "walking around with a bunch of packages" makes her "nervous"

In this video posted to instagram, a woman calls the cops on a UPS driver because "I don't understand why you're walking around with a bunch of packages".

This woman legit called the cops on a Black UPS driver for working while Black.

No seriously

She said he “looked suspicious,” & then finally seemed to back off when a white UPS driver told her she’s wrong.

She looms up on him, variously keeps her hands in her pockets or waves them around in his face, rolls up her sleeves, grins, tells him where she lives, and says: you're making me nervous. The excuse that police use to justify killing people, cued up by a belligerent bigot who, when she realizes he's not going to react negatively to her provocations, calls the police.

Also, now you know why your packages are late.

This woman legit called the cops on a Black UPS driver for working while Black.

No seriously

She said he “looked suspicious,” & then finally seemed to back off when a white UPS driver told her she’s wrong. pic.twitter.com/7jaPiA5sWu

— Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) November 27, 2019

That time Charlton Comics published a trans sci-fi story in 1953

Back in September, a rare print edition of Space Adventures #7—originally published by the new-defunct Charlton Comics in 1953—sold for $1,800.

The comic book speculator market isn't normally the kind of cash cow that the 90s thought it was going to be. Unless you've got one of those very rare early superhero origin comics—or you happen to sell something random like Avengers #257 at the exact right time for a convenient movie tie-in—you're typically lucky to make even a dollar on an old comic.

Space Adventures #7 has nothing to do with superheroes, or non-superhero movie adaptations. But it's still coveted, probably because it contains a pre-Comics Code story called "Transformation" that was illustrated by Dick Giordano, who went on to become the Executive Editor at DC Comics, and written by a curiously uncredited author.

What's more interesting about the comic, however, is that it deals unexpectedly with transgender issues.

Here's a basic synopsis of the 8-page story from Comic Book Plus:

Anticipating nuclear war that would leave Earth barren of life, Lars Kranston convinces his colleagues to go to Mars. His paramour Betty Stone insists that she go as well. The ship crashes on Mars. Everyone but Lars and Betty are killed, but Lars thinks she died too. Betty wakes up suffering total amnesia. Lars decides to use the supplies that survived the wreck. He manages a complete sex change. The tumultuous situation on Earth dies down. The predicted war never occurs. Betty remembers the journey. She runs Lars, who explains his sex change to a woman. Betty breaks down at the revelation.

The representation of trans issues in the comic isn't quite perfect—after all, it was published just 2 years after Christine Jorgensen became the first widely-known trans person in America. Thematically, the comic deals more with an overly-simplistic binary understanding of "masculinity" and "femininity." I might even argue that it's more of a commentary on what we now talk about as "toxic masculinity"—the hyper-aggressive, unemotional, dangerously "logic"-obsessed stoic warmonger-types—than actual issues of body or gender dysphoria.

Still, it's an interesting piece of comics history.

To be fair, Charlton Comics in general has a very strange story; a friend of mine has been working on a documentary about the company for years, and has still barely scratched the surface. The company was originally founded in a small town outside of New Haven, by an Italian immigrant bricklayer who had spent time in prison for printing books of song lyrics that infringed on copyright laws. The company eventually began publishing a wide variety of comic book titles, from Westerns to horror comics to licensed comics about Flash Gordon and the Hanna-Barbera pantheon. They're also responsible for creating superhero characters such as Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, The Peacemaker, The Question, and Nightshade—all of whom were eventually bought by DC Comics, and used as the basis for the characters in Watchmen before being folded into the larger DC Universe.

And somewhere, in the course of all of that, they managed to publish an early sci-fi exploration of gender transformations.

You can read the full "Transformation" story from Space Adventures #7 here.