It's been a year since the Asian-American band The slants won their court case against the US Patent and Trademark office, which had refused to allow them to trademark their band-name because it was a racial slur.
The Wildbook project conducts wild animal population censuses by combining photos of animals taken by tourists, scientists, and volunteers and then using their distinctive features (zebra stripes, whale fluke shapes, leopard spots, etc) to identify individuals and produces unprecedented data that uses creepy facial recognition tools for non-creepy purposes.
Patrick Costello (previously) writes, "I had to go through a 25 hr EEG, but I didn't let the wires glued to my head stop me from posting my weekly frailing banjo workshop."
When Yale psych professor Laurie Santos offered a course in how to be happy -- based on the latest peer-reviewed science -- she hoped that a reasonable number of students would sign up (after all, the literature suggested that there is an epidemic of depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation among US college students); the course was the most successful in Yale's history, with one in four students enrolling
Yesterday, I saw a demo of the Homebiogas bioreactor: it's essentially an artificial stomach that uses colonies of microbes to digest your home food waste (it can do poop, too, but people tend to be squeamish about this), providing enough clean-burning biogas to cook your next meal, heat your house, or run a generator -- what's left behind is excellent fertilizer.
People who help domestic abuse survivors say that they are facing an epidemic of women whose abusers are torturing them by breaking into their home smart devices, gaslighting them by changing their thermostat settings, locking them out of their homes, spying on them through their cameras.
While it's fun to watch Hollywood action heroes hack into cameras to spy on their targets, the thought of an actual cybercriminal using our own security devices against us is chilling for most. That's what makes the iPM World HD 360 Degree 1080p Wireless IP Camera essential for anyone looking to deter digital and physical intruders alike, and it's available today for $44.99.
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The iPM World HD 360 Degree 1080p Wireless IP Camera is available in the Boing Boing Store today for $44.99.
'Disease outbreaks and a lack of medical personnel await those imprisoned in Victorville, California.' Prison staff in Victorville say immigrant detainees are treated like 'cockroaches.' There's already an outbreak of scabies and a case of chicken pox among the detainees.
It was 1997 when Simon Jansen started his remake of the first Star Wars film -- Episode IV - A New Hope -- as an ASCII animation (or "asciimation," as he coined it).
Shenzhen Gwelltimes Technology Co., Ltd is the white-label vendor behind a whole constellation of Internet of Things networked home cameras sold as security cameras, baby monitors, pet monitors, and similar technologies; these cameras are designed to be monitored by their owners using an app, and because of farcically bad default passwords ("123") and other foolish security practices (such as sequentially numbering each camera, allowing attackers to enumerate vulnerable devices), the devices are trivial to locate and hijack over the internet.
A staggering eight million tons of plastic trash is dumped in our oceans each year, according to a 2015 Science report.
As a way of putting a spotlight on the issue, Spanish designer Adolfo Correa created the art for The Paradise? Shirt, a Hawaiian-style shirt that, at first glance, looks standard-issue. Look closer and you'll see he's put plastic waste -- like toothbrushes and six-pack rings -- into the design.
The shirt was a collaboration between Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam, Corona and Parley for the Oceans, created for World Oceans Day (June 8). The limited-edition shirts were being sold at the World Surf League Store for $69/each but have already sold out.
images via Adolfo Correa
(Dezeen)
A group of elite Google Cloud engineers simply refused to put any work into an airgap system designed to let the company bid on sensitive military contracts, which undermined the company's ability to seek military work.
What's in the water in one Canadian city? Uncooked hot dogs, apparently.
Last weekend, a reality-hacking hero offered bottles of unfiltered, "keto-compatible" "Hot Dog Water" at a Vancouver street festival for CAN$37.99 (~US$28) a pop. The vendor, performance artist/"foodie-troller" Douglas Bevans, claimed his special water (which included a real hot dog inside each bottle) had health benefits.
"Several" people "bought-and-consumed" his expensive meat water though his hilarious venture didn't turn a profit, according to the blog Vancouver is Awesome. The blog also shared Bevans' reason for selling it in the first place, which appeared at the bottom of the health claim:
If you get all the way to the fine print, you’ll find this: “HOT DOG WATER IN ITS ABSURDITY HOPES TO ENCOURAGE CRITICAL THINKING RELATED TO PRODUCT MARKETING AND THE SIGNIFICANT ROLE IT CAN PLAY IN OUR PURCHASING CHOICES.”
Bravo, well done!
lead image by Bernadette Price, 2nd image by Franklin Sayre, both used with permission
Spring came and went, but we're not here to judge if you didn't get around to cleaning up your living space. After all, taking the time to vacuum your floors can stretch out into a lengthy task when you're constantly switching between power outlets and trying to jam your machine into those tight corners. With the Dyson V6 Bagless Cordless Handheld Vacuum with HEPA Filter, you can sidestep the vacuum hassles and finally catch up on your spring cleaning. It's available today for $179.99.
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Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow
After "a month and almost 200 e-mails," Rolling Stone writer Stephen Rodrick succumbed to an interview with Johnny Depp at his London home to discuss how the 55-year-old actor lost nearly all of his $650M fortune. The piece was devised by his lawyer in an effort to put Depp and his financial woes in a positive light, instead Rodrick compared Depp to a late-stage Marlon Brando and detailed the eccentricities he witnessed over a 72-hour period. The longform interview is a brutal portrait of a man who's suing the people who once handled his money.
It's estimated that Depp has made $650 million on films that netted $3.6 billion. Almost all of it is gone. He's suing The Management Group, run by his longtime business manager, Joel Mandel, and his brother Robert for negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud...
The Mandels categorically deny all wrongdoing and are countersuing, alleging that Depp breached his oral contract with the company. The suit suggests that Depp has a $2-million-a-month compulsory-spending disorder, offering bons mots like "Wine is not an investment if you drink it as soon as you buy it."...
Rodrick's interview with Depp was published Wednesday and by Friday Deadline was reporting that it did him no favors in an article titled, Johnny Depp Loses Bid To Delay $25M Fraud Trial On Heels Of Train Wreck Rolling Stone Profile.
They describe Depp's legal troubles as so:
Now battling ex-bodyguards who claim drug abuse and owed pay and a countersuit from his former longtime attorney too, Depp first sued The Management Group back in January 2017.
At the time and since, the actor alleged that despite making hundreds of millions of dollars he was feeling the financial pinch because of having been swindled in the Hollywood accounting shell game by those trusted and the much respected TMG.
The Management Group swung back with a countersuit of their own on the last day of the first month of 2017 over unpaid commissions and tales of excess and irresponsibility, to put it very mildly, that proclaimed that the up tp $20 million a picture plus a share of profits actor’s spending habits were the real cause of his apparently emptying bank accounts. Among the various residences, dozens of vehicles, tens of thousands a month on wine, guitar collection, artwork, hangers-on, sibling provisions, security, acting assistants and other indulgences, TMG’s reaction revealed that the Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas star paid out $3 million to have Hunter S. Thompson’s ashes shoot out of a cannon in 2005 and forks out more $2-million in monthly expenses.
About that cannon, from the Rolling Stone article:
Depp says they got the Hunter S. Thompson cannon story wrong too. "By the way, it was not $3 million to shoot Hunter into the fucking sky," says Depp. "It was $5 million."
Oof.
Three all-nighters in London with Johnny Depp, co-starring a Russian oligarch's lawyer, hash, the #metoo movement, Don Rickles' ghost, and millions gone forever. How a Hollywood icon found himself at a dead end. https://t.co/nx5BCFU5FI
— Stephen Rodrick …read the rest
Kris Kobach (previously) is a racist shitbag who engineered Red State America's voter suppression campaign; he is also (predictably enough) the Kansas Secretary of State, in which capacity he has been representing his office in a lawsuit over his unconstitutional voter ID law.
The New York Times doesn't like to call Donald Trump (who is a compulsive liar) a liar; they deploy the squeamish euphemism "falsely claimed" in place of "lied" -- with Gabriel Gironda's NYT Speak Chrome extension (source code here), you can remedy this situation. (Thanks, Gabriel Gironda!)
Last night, a group of culture jammers called Indecline improved a "1-800-GOT-JUNK?" billboard on a highway in Emeryville, California, just east of San Francisco. The billboard previously said "We make junk disappear" and they fixed it to read "We make kids disappear - ICE."
In a statement sent to the media, Indecline stated that the modification was a response to "President Trump's handling of the current immigration crisis, particularly, the separation of young children from their families."
Indecline also posted the following documentation of their work:
(SFGate)
Firefighters sleep together in the same room, eat and risk their lives together. Getting your ya-yas out for all the world to see together? Well, that’s not a part of the job. According to the Akron Beacon Journal, a pair of firefighters from Akron, Ohio may have burnt down their careers by making a pornographic video on city property.
Lt. Art Dean and Provisional Lt. Deann Eller were hired by the Akron Fire Department on the same day in the fall of 2000. For 18 years, they served their community with diligence and honor—a fact that’s reflected in their work jackets. According to their performance reports, Eller rarely missed a day of work and always displayed a strong work ethic. The same can be said for Dean. Over the years, their careers saw them separated to work at different fire halls in the city. But the time that they spent together allowed for the kindling of a hot personal relationship that may have ended up burning them both.
Opportunities for firefighting puns are few and far between. Let me have this.
After receiving an anonymous tip, City of Akron officials launched an investigation whether the city’s next fiscal year should include a larger budget allotment for cleaning supplies: it’s alleged that the Dean and Eller were filming pornography in the basement of one of the city’s fire halls. Apparently at least one of the videos, which were filmed in a readily identifiable gym located in an Akron fire station, features Eller, working out in the nude.
I don’t see the big deal here. After wearing all that protective bunker gear all day, anyone'd want some time where their skin could breathe, right? No? Ok.
From the Akron Beacon Journal:
Chief Clarence Tucker and Mayor Dan Horrigan spoke strongly Monday about how the alleged behavior did not reflect the values of those who serve and save the city from fires. During a news conference called Monday to address the rumors, Tucker said that Eller and Dean could face additional discipline, including dismissal, if an ongoing investigation concludes they broke the city’s anti-fraternizing rule for men and women.
While under investigation, Eller and Dean will remain on paid leave, leaving them plenty of time to get their freak on, alleged or otherwise.
Image via PxHere
The keen retro wall clock I bought in January is back on sale on Amazon for $7.50. It's worked like a champ and I haven't had to change the batteries or adjust the time yet.
Stonehenge has been stuck in my head like an ice pick during every summer solstice for as far back as I can remember. I'm a day late with it, but now my pain/joy is yours.
A report published in The Lancet by a team of medical researchers shows that when cops in the United States murder unarmed black people, it messes with the mental health of black people who live nearby.
An internal document shows the U.S. Navy has developed a plan to construct 'austere' tent cities capable of holding tens of thousands of immigration detainees on remote bases in California, Alabama and Arizona.
Paul McCartney took a very lucky James Corden on a terrific car tour of Liverpool, they sang Beatles songs, checked out Paul's old haunts (including his childhood home), and generally enjoyed themselves. Corden was so overcome at one point that he started crying. It concludes with a surprise performance at a pub.
Image: YouTube/The Late Late Show with James Corden
From Epicurious: "Epicurious challenges coffee expert Dillon Edwards to guess which coffee is more expensive. Edwards breaks down roasts (dark roast vs light roast), processing, freshness, varietals, and source. For each element, the connoisseur looks at and tests each coffee before guessing which coffee costs more. Once the prices are revealed, Edwards explains why a specific coffee costs more and dives into specifics on how each coffee is made."
Image: YouTube screenshot/Epicurious
Nineteen-year-old Cedella Roman, a French citizen staying in Canada, was jogging in White Rock, B.C. when she was stopped by two U.S. border patrol officers. They told her she'd illegally entered the United States. Roman told them she hadn't seen signs on the dirt trail she'd been running on. They put her in a caged vehicle and drove her 200 kilometers to the Department of Homeland Security's Tacoma Northwest Detention Centre and held her there for 2 weeks.
From CBC:
Roman said she was able to contact her mother, Christiane Ferne, who rushed to the detention centre to provide officers with documents including her passport and study permits.
Ferne said workers on site told her she had to present the documents to Immigration Canada to determine if Roman was eligible to be discharged back to Canada.
Roman was held in custody for two weeks before immigration officials on both sides of the border confirmed she was allowed back into Canada. Then she was transferred back into B.C.
"It was just unfair that there was nothing, no sign at the border," said Ferne, who visited her daughter several times while she was detained. "It's like a trap … anybody can be caught at the border like this."
A spokesbot for U.S. Customs and Border Protection offered a characteristically sociopathic statement:
A spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that anyone who enters into the U.S. outside an official port of entry and without inspection has crossed the border illegally, and will be processed accordingly.
This applies regardless of whether or not the individual claims to have inadvertently crossed the border," said the department in a statement.
Image: Cedella Roman/Facebook
MTV is reviving two of the greatest shows to ever appear on the channel: Daria and Aeon Flux. The latter will be a live action reboot. Daria, a spin-off from Beavis and Butt-head, was a brilliant black comedy cartoon about a misanthropic teen. Aeon Flux was a fantastically strange animated science fiction series created by Peter Chung that aired as part of the seminal Liquid Television animation showcase produced by the pioneering Colossal Pictures for MTV. From Rolling Stone:
For its reboot of Daria, MTV Studios announced that the show would tentatively be titled Daria and Jodie to reflect its new focus not just on the original eponymous heroine, but also her friend Jodie Landon. Per a description of the show, "These two smart young women take on the world, with their signature satirical voice while deconstructing popular culture, social classes, gender and race."
It's unclear if Daria and Jodie will be a full reimagining of the original series set at Lawndale High, or if it will catch up with Daria and Jodie in college or young adult life. Daria and Jodie will be helmed by Grace Edwards, who has written for Inside Amy Schumer, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and more.
Meanwhile, Jeff Davis (Teen Wolf, Criminal Minds) and Gale Anne Hurd (The Walking Dead, Fear the Working Dead) will oversee the live-action revival of Aeon Flux. The show will follow the titular assassin as she "teams up with a group of biohacking rebels in the not too distant dystopian future to battle a brutally repressive regime and save humanity."
Last month, three gentlemen were arrested in Lebanon, Maine for trying to steal a 25-foot-long shed from a foreclosed property. They had tied the shed to the back of their pickup truck and were tugging it down the road when cops arrived. I'd guess there was no high-speed chase. According to the Portland Press Herald, police also busted one of them for meth and prescription pills that didn't belong to him. Other charges for the men include unauthorized taking or transfer, reckless conduct, and criminal mischief. (via Weird Universe)
In 1992, University of Melbourne researchers TT Lim and TB Nickels wrote a scientific paper titled "Instability and reconnection in the head-on collision of two vortex rings." The research so inspired Smarter Every Day's Destin Sandlin that he launched his own research effort to study the phenomenon and capture it using high-speed video. Four years later, he's shared this magnificent video above. You can also watch all 12 hours of the 1x speed video below.
A team at MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering have created a set of foldable, 3D printed robots that are doped with magnetic particles that are precisely aligned during printing; when triggered by a control-magnet they engage in precise movements: grabbing, jumping, rolling, squeezing, etc.
The Supreme Court has ruled in the closely watched Carpenter v. United States case, which questioned the constitutionality of warrantless location surveillance, a widespread practice among US law enforcement and surveillance agencies.
"On Monday, April 20, 2015, I opened a new spreadsheet on my laptop," writes Laura Vanderkam for Fast Company. I put the days of the week along the top. I put half hour blocks, from 5 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. along the left side. I began recording what I was doing on this time log: work, sleep, drive to train station, make kids breakfast."
She learned that being aware of how she was spending her time did two things: it helped her make more rewarding choices about how she spent her time, and it made her realize she has more time than she previously thought.
Broadly, though, the most important outcome from time tracking has been a sense of abundance. I have always known I have a good, full life. Now I see the evidence, hour after hour. I see stressful times, such as the week before I wrote this when I was on planes three times, with multiple delays, ending up at the wrong Hilton somewhere in Ohio. But I can see that in the same 168 hours, I took the kids to an amusement park. I saw Renoirs and Matisses at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. I ate at one of my favorite restaurants with my husband. I sat on the porch multiple nights watching the sunset.
Without the time logs, I might be tempted only to remember the flight delays. I might tell myself I was rushed and harried. But with the time logs recording those sunsets, I simply cannot claim that I have no time.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who ends up at the wrong hotel after a long day of travel.
Image: A. and I. Kruk/Shutterstock
Stranger Things special effects producers Paul and Christina Graff explain the season two VFX of the Upside Down, the demodog Dart, and that shadowy motherfucker from the finale.
In this Washington Post video, Karen Attiah shows that America has a long history of doing terrible things to families of migrants, Native Americans, slaves, Japanese Americans, and others.
Hello. My name is Gareth Branwyn and I am a hot food addict. As I type this, I am horking my way through a can of tuna iced with a generous layer of Sriracha sauce. But as my mouth and tongue are ablaze with the beloved rooster sauce, I know this level of heat is kid's play. Sriracha is a paltry 2,2000 SHU on the Scoville scale (a measure of capsaicin concentration in hot foods).
What might it be like to eat food in the 500,000-600,000 SHU range? And then answer provocative interview questions? That is the premise of the hit YouTube show, Hot Ones, now in its 6th season.
When I first happened upon this show a few years ago, I wanted to hate it. I thought it was a goofy premise and I'm generally not a fan of shows that create fear, pain, or deep embarrassment in other humans for my cheap entertainment. But as Stephen Colbert says below (he's a fan and had Hot Ones host Sean Evans on as a Late Night guest last year), the whole spicy interview process is fascinating and lends itself to some funny, strange, and sometimes quite insightful interviews.
Anyone who's ever eaten peppers in this heat range knows how darn-near consciousness-altering it can be. I'm always amazed at how composed and physiologically unaffected many guests of the show are. Colbert's obvious struggle, as over a million SHUs of capsaicin light up the sensor neurons in his head, is more of how I imagine handling it.
Canadian border guards' terminals give them secret access to Tuscan, a database maintained by US spy agencies of suspected terrorists; the database has some 680,000 names in it and if you match one of those names, Canadian border and immigration officials are empowered to "detain, interrogate, arrest and deny entry" to you.
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Atlas Obscura just added an interesting new section on strange and wondrous foods, like salt-rising bread leavened with bacteria that cause gas gangene.
YouTuber thepeterson makes video montages that pull together clips from pop culture days of yore, highlighting what movies and TV shows the masses were watching, what they were listening to on the radio, and what video games they were playing. In the latest one, June 1998 is put into the spotlight. Prepare to take a (possibly nostalgic) trip down memory lane to see what was "in" twenty years ago this month.
It's weird to think that if he got struck by lightning a couple of feet short of the top, and you were being sent up to fetch the charred remains, you would obviously take a light bulb with you.
