We use baking soda to clean surfaces around the house. We also pour it down sink drains to remove bad smells. Amazon has a great deal on a 5lb bag, so I just stocked up: Read the rest

I really hope Florida representative Matt Gaetz puts on more self-owning performances like this one, and I'm sure he will, because one of the distinguishing features of a MAGA politician is an utter lack of shame or self awareness. Here, he interrogates John Dean (former White House counsel to Richard Nixon), who makes short work of every one of Gaetz's limp gotcha questions. At one point everyone in the room laughs at one of Dean's comebacks.

what a joke pic.twitter.com/Oqn80Djgyi

— jordan (@JordanUhl) June 10, 2019

Image: C-Span Read the rest

The Thanos bikini is so popular that it is sold out. But a one-piece version is available. Read the rest

InfoWars settled a lawsuit by paying $15,000 to cartoonist Matt Furie for using his comic book character, Pepe the Frog, in a poster without permission. Pepe was an innocuous character who first appeared in Furie's 2005 comic Boy's Club, but was co-opted by neo-nazis, Trumpists, and fascists as a symbol for white nationalism and alt-right ideology.

From The Daily Beast:

The InfoWars lawsuit, filed last year, centered on a poster sold by InfoWars featuring Pepe alongside Trumpworld personalities like Roger Stone, InfoWars founder Alex Jones, and pundits “Diamond & Silk.”

Before settling, InfoWars tried a novel legal strategy of suggesting, without evidence, that Furie had actually based Pepe on an Argentinian amphibian cartoon character named “El Sapo Pepe.” But on Tuesday, InfoWars agreed to destroy all remaining copies of the poster, and pay back the $14,000 it made from the poster sales—along with an additional $1,000.

Images: Matt Furie's Boy's Club (l), InfoWars poster (r) Read the rest

In this Wired video, Clint Emerson, a retired Navy SEAL and crisis management professional, explains the difference between observation and "true situational awareness." Read the rest

ETA Prime takes a look at the new Pocket Go from Bittboy. The $40 device emulates GBA, SNES, MD, SMS, PCE, NES, GBC, GB, NEOGEO, and more. Read the rest

I have the larger version of this Tacklife USB rechargeable electric lighter. It's normally but you can get it for less than half that price with promo code E3I83BAJ.

  Read the rest

This is nightmarish. On a dark freeway in Russia workers have left concrete repair materials in the middle of a freeway with no warning signs. Two cars hit them and go flying.

Image: YouTube Read the rest

The Burger King at State Road 13 in Fruit Cove, Florida has received a stern warning from headquarters to refrain from using a floor mop to clean tables in the children's area. News4Jax has the details, along with a video of a worker swabbing a table with a dirty-looking floor mop.

Image: News4Jax

  Read the rest

Jane has been playing Pokemon for many years. We were sent five Detective Pikachu Case Files and Jane went through each one for your enjoyment. We displayed images of the QR codes included in each pack, so if you're an online player, pull out your mobile phone and be the first to scan them. Read the rest

Daniel Danger says: "my post-art plan is opening a grilled cheese cart. Read the rest

Keanu Reeves went on stage at E3 to pitch Cyberpunk 2077, an open-world game from CD PROJEKT RED. Release date is April 16, 2020.

Image: YouTube Read the rest

Ars Technica reports that a judge ordered Comcast to pay a $9.1 million fine and refund 50,000 customers it tricked into subscribing to a worthless "protection plan."

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued Comcast in August 2016, accusing the nation's largest cable company of tricking customers into buying a "near-worthless 'protection plan' without disclosing its significant limitations."

Buying the $5-per-month plan ostensibly prevented customers from having to pay each time a Comcast technician visited their home to fix problems covered by the plan. But in reality, the plan did not cover the vast majority of wiring problems, the AG's lawsuit said. Moreover, Washington state attorneys said that Comcast led customers to believe that they needed to buy a Service Protection Plan (SPP) to get services that were actually covered for free by the company's "Customer Guarantee."

Image: Ken Wolter/Shutterstock Read the rest

Rob recently wrote about the Clockwork GameShell (an open source, Arduino-friendly, Linux-based handheld game console that runs all sorts of new and old video games). I got one this weekend and put it together. It took about an hour to assemble. Everything was modular and snap-together. No screws. It's very well designed. As I was putting it together I gained a lot of respect for the designer . The only tools I needcd were some flush cut clippers (to remove the plastic parts from the sprues) and some nitrile gloves (to prevent smearing the display and the clear plastic parts).

Here's the box:

And the contents:

Controller buttons and tightening pins on sprues:

Flush cutters came in handy for neatly removing plastic parts from the sprues:

Here are the sub-components inside their clear modular cases:

Fully assembled:

And a quick tour of the menu:

I'll write more about it after I use it for a while. Read the rest

A baby deer meets a toddler and decides to be her BFF.

Image: YouTube Read the rest

Historian Jared Diamond (author of Guns, Germs, and Steel and Upheaval) explains how the US could become a dictatorship in 10 years. He says the main reason is the breakdown of political compromise in recent years.

Image: Big Think/YouTube Read the rest

In 1868 Commodore Richard Powell and the crew of the British ship HMS Topaze took a 9,000 pound statue, called Hoa Hakananai'a, from Easter Island (Rapa Nui) and give it to Queen Victoria. She in turn gave it to the British Museum, where it has resided ever since. Now the inhabitants of Easter Island would like the statue returned.

From CNN:

In November 2018, the governor of Easter Island Tarita Alarcón Rapu traveled to the British Museum and made an appeal for the statue to be sent back to Rapa Nui as part of a loan agreement. It is one of the most revered of the island's moai, which are believed to contain the spirits of ancestors.

"We all came here, but we are just the body -- England people have our soul," she told reporters at the time. "And it is the right time to maybe send us back (the statue) for a while, so our sons can see it as I can see it. You have kept him for 150 years, just give us some months, and we can have it (on Easter Island)."

A spokeswoman for the British Museum told CNN: "The Museum is delighted to have sent representatives to visit Rapa Nui and to return the courtesy extended by the visit of the group from Rapa Nui in November 2018. We hope we will be able to continue the cordial and productive discussions begun last November and to further develop and build relationships with people on the island."

Image: akhenatenator/Flickr, Public Domain Read the rest