Last week, Roberto Alvim, gave a speech in his capacity as Brazil's culture minister: backed by a Wagner aria, Alvim gave a speech about reforming Brazilian art that literally plagiarized the words of Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's minister of propaganda.

After a week of intense pressure, Jair Bolsonaro, the military strongman authoritarian who rules Brazil and has advocated for extrajudicial torture and murder, fired Alvim.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who lives in Brazil, offers some context for Alvim, who was once a respected theater director but became a far-right religious fanatic.

Greenwald points out that it's not a coincidence that a literal Nazi ended up in Bolsonaro's cabinet -- nor is Alvim the only Nazi to be found there.

On social media, he has declared himself fighting a “cultural war” in favor of “conservative artists”; denounced one of Brazil’s most beloved actresses, the 90-year-old Fernanda Montenegro, as a “dirty liar” for whom he harbors “contempt”; and attacked the Brazilian filmmaker Petra Costa, whose documentary “Edge of Democracy” was just nominated for an Academy Award, as a leftist propagandist disseminating lies.

Notably, Alvim was fired only after the embassies of Germany and, far more importantly to Bolsonaro, Israel issued condemnations containing harsh language rare for diplomatic communications. The Israeli Confederation of Brazil said: “Such a person cannot command the culture of our country and must be removed from office immediately.” The German Embassy in Brazil said: “The period of National Socialism is the darkest chapter in German history, bringing infinite suffering to humanity….We oppose any attempt to trivialize or even glorify the era of National Socialism.”

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/SWW87nXsAT0/wagner-the-dog.html

Few things in life are more universally dreaded than going to the gym, which is unfortunate since a new year usually means making new resolutions to get in shape.

Thankfully, this BodyBoss 2.0: Portable Home Gym has everything you need to burn fat and build muscle in the comfort of your own home.

With just a small collection of resistance bands and gear, you’ll be able to do hundreds to go-to gym exercises in virtually any environment. The BodyBoss 2.0 is designed to simulate thousands of dollars worth of gym equipment, so you can tone and sculpt all in the same space and without having to jump from machine to machine.

And since the entire fitness package weighs less than 11 pounds, it's easy to take it with you wherever you go.

Hit your New Years' fitness goals without dragging yourself to the gym with this BodyBoss 2.0: Portable Home Gym for just $155—45% off its usual price.

Prices are subject to change.

You can't beat free! Get $70+ worth of premium Mac apps for free today! Read the rest

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http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/n4oOMfgssY4/the-easy-to-make-twitter-egg-s.html

I read and greatly enjoyed Jack Vance's 4-book series, Tales of the Dying Earth last year. Today I wanted to tell my daughter about one of the spells in the book (the Spell of Forlorn Encystment), so I looked it up online. One of the top results Alison Flood's 2011 review of the series in The Guardian. She likes the books for the same reasons I do, describing the stories as "strange, and disturbing, and glowing."

"Glowing" is an especially good way to describe Vance's writing. His use of language in enchanting, and it really does feel like his sentences and words are manifesting some kind of spell.

From Flood's review:

All is recounted in Vance's wonderful, unique prose. Is it possible to be both deadpan and flowery at the same time? I think he pulls this off, to hilarious effect. "These girls seem not to relish the garland of pulchritude," says Guyal of a collection of unattractive women. Cugel, after ditching a former princess into the hands of a brigand (it was his own hopelessness which led to her losing her kingdom), justifies himself angrily. "'The woman is a monomaniac!' he told himself. 'She lacks clarity and perceptiveness; how could I have done else, for her welfare and my own? I am rationality personified; it is unthinking to suggest otherwise.'"

There are remnants of ancient civilisations: floating roads and air-cars. There are horrific images galore: a pyramid of screaming flesh half a thousand feet high. And so, so much of these stories can be seen in the work of later authors.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/sMacA1GzoFA/excellent-review-of-jack-vance.html

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/yuHAseC5MwY/portuguese-president-pre-empts.html

EVERYONE SHUT UP AND LOOK AT THIS COFFEE ADVERTISEMENT pic.twitter.com/oqpNvBAcXa

 dante (@sapphicticated) January 17, 2020

How did Dad rescue those glasses? Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Qwly6vnp3Uw/watch-this-fantastic-coffee-ad.html

New York's luxury real-estate market has been in freefall for years, and now the city's super-luxe buildings are sitting empty -- even as property prices in the city remain stubbornly high, prompting 300 New Yorkers to move out of the city every day, and filling the homeless shelters to capacity and beyond.

New York -- like most overpriced cities -- has failed to build enough low- and middle-income housing of the sort that people use to live in, and has grossly oversupplied itself with the kinds of safe deposit boxes in the sky that oligarchs use as a form of medium-term asset class, possibly without ever occupying it.

The luxurification of cities isn't an accident. When Michael Bloomberg was mayor of New York, he explicitly encouraged "bluelining" -- designating whole regions as luxury-only, aimed at the global super-rich -- saying that he wanted New York City itself to be viewed as a luxury good.

The problem with this plan -- apart from it being an inhumane form of ethnic cleansing that chases working people out of our cities -- is that it only works if there are enough global oligarchs chasing these super-luxe condos to keep the market inflated and liquid (oligarchs have viewed luxury property in big cities as being nearly as liquid as cash, because for a time, you could flip them on just a few days' notice).

But three of the most important centers of oligarchic capital have dried up: China instituted strict currency controls and its economy is slowing, and Saudi and Russian oligarchs are much less flush than they were when oil prices were at their peaks. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/_GyaotljhQI/a-luxury-product.html

Using sheer brute force, a Disneyland guest successfully removed Excalibur, the "sword in the stone," from its anvil in front of the King Arthur Carrousel. It was first reported that the sword was removed as part of a planned refurbishment but then a guest stepped up to share what really happened.

WDW News Today:

The sword is not removed for refurbishment. My friend Sam broke it last week on the 8th when we went to Disneyland. He literally ripped it out. The staff said that it was really old and that’s why he was able to do so. It was his first time at Disney and he’s a pretty buff dude, I told him if he pulled it out he’d win a prize and he just used brute force I guess lol. It was broken and jagged. The staff said they taped it off so no one would stick their fingers in and cut it on the broken piece left inside.

Unfortunately, the poor fellow didn't become King, as legend dictates. And a brand new sword has already been placed in its (freshly polished) anvil in its central Fantasyland spot. See photos of it at WDW News Today.

screengrab via Disney's Sword in the Stone Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/7BkhLK58bRs/brawny-disneyland-guest-remove.html

If one of your New Year's resolutions is to travel more, you owe it to yourself to learn the language of the place you're visiting. If you're not sure where to start, give these resources a look. From mobile apps to online courses, these products can get you conversant in a new language before you set foot on foreign soil. Read on for details:

1. Language Zen–Spanish Language Learning Program: Lifetime Subscription

MSRP: $500 | Sale Price: $79 (84% off)

Learn Spanish twice as effectively with this personal language tutoring platform that adapts to your unique learning habits.

2. The Complete Learn French in 30 Days Bundle

MSRP: $2000 | Sale Price: $19 (99% off)

This 10-course bundle will help you learn French language and grammar the easy way, thanks to simple, bite-sized lessons that can be completed in as little as a few minutes.

3. The Fast-Track French Language Learning Bundle

MSRP: $796 | Sale Price: $20 (97% off)

Fancy a trip to the City of Lights? With 13 hours of content spread over four in-depth courses, this bundle will teach you how to speak and read one of the world’s most beloved languages.

4. HelloTalk VIP: Lifetime Subscription

MSRP: $230 | Sale Price: $29 (87% off)

This best-selling platform lets you learn a new language by speaking directly with native speakers from around the world.

5. Babbel Language Learning: Lifetime Subscription

MSRP: $399 | Sale Price: $159 (60% off)

Learn up to 14 new languages with a lifetime subscription to Babbel, which comes with access to over 10,000 hours of high-quality educational content. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/M48_vyGnzmo/learn-a-new-language-in-2020-w-2.html

One of the most frustratingly incredible things about Corporate PR Con Artistry is that even when the chaos magicians behind it reveal their tricks, there are still people who will continue to insist that somehow, this makes the lie even more real. We've seen it before with climate change, and the bullshit connection between vaccines and autism.

And now, in a new op-ed from The New York Times, we can see this phenomenon happening in real-time with healthcare. Most rational-thinking people understand that the private healthcare system in America offers no more "choice" than the socialized, single-payer, or other government-subsidized systems in other developed nations. Yet that idea of "choice" — and the fantastical fear-mongering about wait times in Canada — has become a popular talking point with those opposed to healthcare reform. Which is precisely what it was designed to do, by people like Wendell Potter, a former vice president for corporate communications at Cigna. As he writes in the Times:

To my everlasting regret, I played a hand in devising this deceptive talking point about choice when I worked in various communications roles for a leading health insurer between 1993 and 2008, ultimately serving as vice president for corporate communications.

[…]

Those of us who held senior positions for the big insurers knew that one of the huge vulnerabilities of the system is its lack of choice. In the current system, Americans cannot, in fact, pick their own doctors, specialists or hospitals — at least, not without incurring huge “out of network” bills.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/DfDB6h-TEus/healthcare-choice-in-america-i.html

Anyone who loves biking, skiing, or snowboarding in the great outdoors knows just how difficult it can be to safely transport your gear—especially during extended trips. These three accessories make it easier than ever to securely attach your gear to your car. So if you're planning to embark on a outdoor adventure soon, you'd be wise to check out these options:

1. STAG Ski, Bike & Base Unit Bundle

MSRP: $549 | Sale Price: $494 (10% off)

This streamlined rack allows you to attach and carry two bikes along with your ski gear (up to four snowboards or five pairs of skis), thanks to a premium vacuum roof system that offers unparalleled grip strength for all of your equipment.

2. STAG Ski & Base Unit Bundle

MSRP: $379 | Sale Price: $341 (10% off)

If you tend to travel a bit lighter when you hit your favorite adventure spots, this simplified rack system has you covered—thanks to premium vacuum cup technology that allows you to securely carry either four snowboards or five pairs of skis.

3. STAG Bike & Base Unit Bundle

MSRP: $379 | Sale Price: $341 (10% off)

Ideal for cycling enthusiasts, this premium roof rack can carry up to two bikes with either a 15mm thru axle or a 9mm skewer, and it’s easy to attach the rack to glass, metal, or fiberglass surfaces. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Mo2Bm9R9eWk/3-racks-perfect-for-transporti.html

[The selloff of the .ORG domain name registry to a private equity fund is fractally terrible, but it's in danger, thanks to public outcry. My EFF colleague Mitch Stoltz lays out the grotesque contours of the deal and its many deficiencies in this comprehensive overview. -Cory]

Over 21,000 people, 660 organizations, and now six Members of Congress have asked ICANN, the organization that regulates the Internet’s domain name system, to halt the $1.135 billion deal that would hand control over PIR, the .ORG domain registry, to private equity. There are crucial reasons this sale is facing significant backlash from the nonprofit and NGO communities who make the .ORG domain their online home, and perhaps none of them are more concerning than the speed of the deal and the dangerous lack of transparency that’s accompanied it. 

Less than three months have passed from the announcement of the sale—which took the nonprofit community by surprise—to the final weeks in which ICANN is expected to make its decision, giving those affected almost no chance to have a voice, much less stop it. The process so far, including information that the buyer, Ethos Capital, provided to ICANN in late December, raises more questions than it answers. U.S. lawmakers are correct that “the Ethos Capital takeover of the .ORG domain fails the public interest test in numerous ways.”

Before any change in who operates the .ORG registry can take place, ICANN, which oversees the domain name system, needs to answer important questions about the deal from those who use .ORG Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/NpfIIg6gWUQ/icann-needs-to-ask-more-questi.html

Late last year, the nonprofit Internet Society abruptly announced a deal to sell control over the Public Interest Registry (which manages all .ORG domain registrations) to Ethos, a newly created private equity fund capitalized by three politically connected families of Republican billionaires. Under the deal, ISOC would get $1.135B to spend on various projects, and PIR would have to return a profit to their private equity investors.

The deal was incredibly fishy. For one thing, Ethos turned out to be staffed with former execs and staffers from ICANN, the body that has the power to bless or halt the sale of PIR -- and these people had come to Ethos after overseeing a highly irregular change in policy that would let PIR hit .ORG domain holders with unlimited price-hikes.

Since then, we've learned that the deal to buy PIR will be financed by hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of debt, which PIR will have to make payments on just to keep the lights on -- money it will have to make by somehow radically increasing PIR's revenues.

It's not clear how they'll do this, or why it needed doing. .ORG is home to the world's best-established human rights groups and nonprofits, and depending on how Ethos manages PIR, those organizations could see their online presence censored to appease the dictatorial governments they watchdog, or have every visitor to every .ORG tracked and the information sold to the highest bidder.

Tomorrow (January 18), I'll be speaking at LA's Crash Space in Culver City, as part of a meeting to organize a mass protest at ICANN headquarters on Friday, January 24th. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/vZwjMLe-T84/angelenos-im-speaking-in-cu.html

It seems like AI is everywhere these days, from the voice recognition software in our personal assistants to the ads that pop up seemingly at just the right time. But believe it or not, the field is still in its infancy.

That means there's no better time to get in on the ground floor. The Essential AI & Machine Learning Certification Training Bundle is a one-course package that can give you a broad overview of AI's many uses in the modern marketplace and how to implement them.

The best place to dive into this four-course master class is with the Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML) Foundation Course. This walkthrough gives you all the terms and concepts that underpin the entire science of AI.

Later courses let you get your hands dirty with some coding, as in the data visualization class that focuses on the role of Python in the interpretive side of data analytics. There are also separate courses on computer vision (the programming that lets machines "see" their surroundings) and natural language processing (the science of getting computers to understand speech).

The entire package is now available for Boing Boing readers at 93% off the MSRP. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/DZtWAXF_ENA/break-into-the-field-of-ai-and.html

It's fascinating to see this round table discussion on The Dick Cavett Show about the assassination of Robert Kennedy. People had the same concerns about gun violence 50 years ago, but the way people talked about it on TV in 1968 is inconceivable today. The panelists were allowed to speak for more that 15 seconds without being interrupted, and the other panelist appeared to be listening to what the others were saying. The panel consisted of actor Robert "Man From U.N.C.L.E." Vaughn (a politically active friend of the Kennedys), NAACP executive director Roy Wilkins, psychiatrist David Abrahamsen (author of "A Study of Lee Harvey Oswald: Psychological Capability of Murder"), and broadcast journalist David Schoenbrun. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/fVWWIwhxvQs/heres-a-1968-episode-of-the.html

Chicago's Volante (previously) bills itself as "streetwear for superheroes," and I love their clothes. They've just released an addition to their existing canon of Star Trek-themed, cosplay-adjacent clothes: the Picard Sweater, a stretchy knit tribute to Jean-Luc himself, the perfect thing to wear while you're watching Wil Wheaton host "The Ready Room," which airs after every episode.

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/0nzfJ6k0x8g/o-captain-my-capn.html

A guy who was waiting for his flight at the airport in Portland wanted more screen display space for his Playstation video game session, so he plugged his PS4 into a public computer screen that was displaying a map of the airport.

Airport staff were not amused.

Port of Portland spokesperson Kara Simonds told Portland KXL-AM radio that staff at Portland International Airport staff asked the man to stop gaming on the public map display.

The man asked if he could finish his game.

They said no.

The situation resolved peacefully.

From the Associated Press:

“Apparently it was a very polite and cordial interaction,” Simonds said, calling it “a good reminder of what not to do at the airport.”

No word on whether or not the passenger made it to the next level.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Z9SUBdxOSRw/man-at-airport-gets-more-video.html

The massive scale and force of the ongoing bushfires in Australia is hard to comprehend.

The number of living creatures killed by flame, smoke, and habitat destruction fires is already staggering, and incomplete.

Here is a new video from Reuters with more on a story we've covered here at Boing Boing previously -- NWS workers are dropping vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes from aircraft, to feed displaced wallabies who can't find anything to eat because everything has burned.

Video: Reuters

PREVIOUSLY on Boing Boing: • Australia fires: Carrots and sweet potatoes dropped from the air to feed starving animals Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/9Zv-ER2BLL0/australia-fires-air-dropping.html

“El Chapo” ran a global narcotics crime ring and escaped two maximum security prisons before being captured, extradited to the United States in 2017, found guilty in 2019, and sentenced to life in prison.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman's daughter Alejandrina Guzman just launched a beer branded with her dad's name, because nothing matters.

Excerpt from Reuters:

The beer is part of the “El Chapo 701” brand, which has already launched a clothing line, and gets its name from when Forbes named him the 701st richest person in the world in 2009. Forbes estimated his net worth at $1 billion at the time.

“This is an artisanal beer, with 4% alcohol. This prototype is a lager, and it’s made up of malt, rice and honey so it’s good,” said Adriana Ituarte, a salesperson for the brand. “And the idea is for it to be sold at bars that stock craft beer.”

A 355 ml bottle is due to be priced at 70.10 pesos ($3.73).

Read more: Drink like a Mexican kingpin: 'El Chapo' beer launched by daughter [reuters.com, Jose Luis Osorio, 1-17-2020, image courtesy El chapo beer] Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/HWhdcX-nORg/el-chapo-beer-launched-by.html

“To the world leaders and those in power, I would like to say that you have not seen anything yet. You have not seen the last of us, we can assure you that. And that is the message that we will bring to the World Economic Forum in Davos next week.”

In the Swiss city of Lausanne on Friday, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and was joined by an estimated 10,000 others for a protest march, before many of them travel to Davos for next week's annual gathering of political and business elites. Their goal: Draw attention to the urgent need for world leaders to fight our worsening climate crisis.

Thunberg is 17 years old, and founded the #FridaysforFuture climate crisis awareness campaign.

From Reuters:

“So, we are now in a new year and we have entered a new decade and so far, during this decade, we have seen no sign whatsoever that real climate action is coming and that has to change,” Thunberg said in a speech in Lausanne.

“To the world leaders and those in power, I would like to say that you have not seen anything yet. You have not seen the last of us, we can assure you that. And that is the message that we will bring to the World Economic Forum in Davos next week.”

Protestors held signs including “Wake up and Smell the Bushfires” and “It is late but it is not too late”.

Hundreds of campaigners will take trains over the weekend and then march to Klosters near Davos, which Thunberg is attending for the second year in a row and will take part in two panel events.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/9EdVKt7of9U/greta-thunberg-you-have-not.html