"I didn't plan to be persecuted simply for joking," he said.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/FTCOKUfwk_I/russian-comedian-who-dissed-pu.html

Oh this is gloriously satisfying.

IMGURian Phoenix3600 did a step-by-step build gallery of what I am assuming is the very pricey and fancy LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Millennium Falcon 75192 Expert Building Kit.

I no longer need to buy it, as I have seen all the assembly photos and foud them to be most pleasing indeed.

I built a thing, grown men can still have these right?

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/XgK5VBJ_n1M/lego-step-by-step-build-ultim.html

In Switzerland, the state-owned Swissmint says today that a 2.96-millimeter (0.12-inches) gold coin created with Albert Einstein's face on it is the smallest in the world.

The coin, shown above, weighs 0.063 grams (1/500th of an ounce) and has a nominal value of 1/4 Swiss francs ($0.26).

From the Associated Press:

Swissmint said the coin, of which just 999 have been made, will be sold for 199 francs with a special magnifying glass so owners can see the famous physicist on its face.

IMAGE courtesy Swissmint: A gold coin with the face of Albert Einstein on the image side. (Handout Swissmint/Benjamin Zurbriggen) Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/AMIqquC49Bg/albert-einsteins-funny-face.html

Researchers in Berlin claim to have succeeded in re-creating the sound of the voice of an Egyptian person who died 3,000 years ago, and was entombed as a mummy.

The scientists say they managed to mimic the mummy's voice (well, the voice of the living person the mummy used to be) by recreating portions of the vocal tract using medical scanners, 3D printing and an electronic larynx.

Excerpt:

In a paper published Thursday by the journal Scientific Reports, the authors say the technique allowed them to produce a single sound - somewhere between the vowels in ‘bed’ and ‘bad.’

The eerie tone is unlikely to be a precise reflection of the speech of Egyptian priest Nesyamun, whose mummified body the researchers worked with, because the tongue has lost much of its bulk over three millennia.

“We have made a faithful sound for his tract in its current position, but we would not expect an exact speech match given his tongue state,” said co-author David M. Howard of London’s Royal Holloway college.

READ MORE at the Associated Press: Ancient voice: Scientists recreate sound of Egyptian mummy

IMAGE: Crop from the original movie poster for 'The Mummy', 1932 (public domain) Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/EuYdwVndmSE/scientists-recreate-sound-of-e.html

Everybody hurts. No crime was solved.

In the otherwise normal town of Georgetown, South Carolina, a sheriff’s deputy who was investigating a burglary ended up using a stun gun on his own K9 after the police working dog bit a cow, which then charged at both the property owner and the deputy, reports the sheriff’s office.

Still with me?

Good.

In a statement [Link], Georgetown County sheriff’s deputies say they responded to a burglary call in the Pleasant Hill community Wednesday afternoon, when the K9 brought to the scene became “distracted” and bit a cow that belonged to the owners of the property.

The officer responded by stunning the dog to prevent serious injury to the cow, said the statement posted on Facebook.

From the Associated Press:

The dog was taken back to the cruiser, and none of the people or animals involved appeared to be seriously hurt, The Greenville News reported.

At the end of it all — it was determined the original burglary call was unfounded, the statement concluded.

More at the USA Today-owned Greenville News: SC deputy tazes his own K-9 after the dog bit a cow on an unfounded burglary call Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/IY1WRaJG2Yg/cop-investigating-burglary-use.html

SPOILER: Nobody got baked. Not that kind of space cookies. Sorry.

“How do they taste? No one knows.”

From the Associated Press:

Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano was the master baker in December, radioing down a description as he baked them one by one in the prototype Zero G Oven. The first cookie — in the oven for 25 minutes at 300 degrees Fahrenheit (149 degrees Celsius) — ended up seriously under-baked. He more than doubled the baking time for the next two, and the results were still so-so. The fourth cookie stayed in the oven for two hours, and finally success.

“So this time, I do see some browning,” Parmitano radioed. “I can’t tell you whether it’s cooked all the way or not, but it certainly doesn’t look like cookie dough any more.”

Parmitano cranked the oven up to its maximum 325 degrees F (163 degrees C) for the fifth cookie and baked it for 130 minutes. He reported more success. Additional testing is required to determine whether the three returned cookies are safe to eat.

First space-baked cookies took 2 hours in experimental oven [apnews.com, Thu. Jan. 23, 2020]

PHOTO: U.S. astronaut Christina Koch tweeted this image on Dec. 26, 2019. Koch and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano pose for a photo with a cookie baked on the International Space Station. Today, results are in for the first chocolate chip cookie bake-off in space. The tastiest cookies required two hours of baking time last month on the International Space Station. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/TDPi_TZHl9w/first-baked-in-space-cooki.html

Here’s a good explainer from Reuters on the airline industry’s response to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak so far. If the virus spreads becomes a pandemic, this could impact world financial markets as did SARS in 2003.

SARS killed about 800 people. Since then, people travel by plane even more, and other things have changed in global travel patterns.

“The biggest concern is a sharp drop in travel demand if the virus becomes a pandemic.”

Excerpt:

Many airlines, including Korean Air Lines, Singapore Airlines’ budget carrier Scoot, Taiwan’s China Airlines Ltd and Japan’s ANA, announced they were cancelling flights in and out of Wuhan after authorities announced a lockdown.

South Korean budget carrier T’way Air earlier this week postponed the scheduled launch of a new route to the city.

Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 showed that as of 0600 GMT on Thursday, 184 Wuhan flights, or 60% of the departures listed for the day, had been canceled.

Wuhan’s Tianhe airport serves around 2% of China’s total air traffic and mainly serves domestic routes. Broker Jefferies estimated 88.8% of overall flights are domestic, with China Southern Airlines Co Ltd holding the largest market share at 30%.

Explainer: Global airlines on high alert as virus outbreak spreads [reuters.com] Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Z8d3cwImzpE/wuhan-virus-puts-airlines-on-h.html

Bait-and-switch headlines dominate this week’s tabloids, with stories failing to live up to their advertised salacious promise.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/8dQT4i5a9bE/bill-clintons-party-on-epst.html

Police in Spain raided two puppy mills and rescued 270 small dogs, many of which were sick and stuffed inside cramped cages.

Five people suspected of running the illegal animal breeding and sales operation were arrested outskirts of Madrid on Thursday.

The puppy crime ring is identified as one of the largest distributors of Chihuahuas and Pomeranians in Europe. They marketed the dogs using social media, and cops say they made more than $2.2 million in US dollars in the course of roughly ten years in operation.

Excerpt from Reuters:

Among the group, mostly Chihuahuas and Pomeranians, police found two dead animals whose frozen bodies had been wrapped in newspaper. Police said the breeders had cut some of the dogs’ vocal chords, possibly to prevent them from barking and alerting neighbours.

Two of the five people arrested were veterinarians who helped give the operation a veil of legitimacy by providing stamped certificates and fitting the dogs with identification microchips.

Read more at REUTERS: Spanish police free hundreds of dogs from illegal puppy farms Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Y6QyvsVP3DY/spain-cops-free-100s-of-dogs.html

A cult of private fealty to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler grew in the years before World War II, reflecting public fawning by the Reich's city fathers. These love letters  some from prominent Americans  now read as a warning.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Z8TZAVX-kaY/love-letters-to-hitler.html

Latest update blurs ads vs. search results line

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/VEiQnbS3FJw/google-ads-look-like-search-re.html

Sweet home, Chicago!

Chicago Defender:

The men and women, some ex-felons, have turned to Tio “Mr. Ceasefire” Hardiman, executive director of Violence Interrupters, to assist them in their quest to secure permits, just like food vendors, to distribute and sell marijuana legally in their neighborhoods. For those who have felonies from illegal drug sales, they are requesting that Governor J.B. Pritzker clears the road for amnesty as soon as possible.

Hardiman and those seeking permits and amnesty will hold a rally and press conference outside The Herbal Care Center, 1301 S. Western Ave., on Wednesday, January 22, 2020, at 10:30 AM, calling on Governor Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot to assist them in getting permits.

“Everyone is promising to direct profits from the sale of marijuana into the communities that have been most impacted by the sale of illegal drugs,” Hardiman said. “Well, these unemployed men and women are saying they can’t wait until that happens. And to be frank, they don’t believe it will happen. History shows those promises are never kept. The licensed cannabis businesses are already making millions of dollars from sales since January 1, and those citizens with the most experience in the industry are still in the streets unemployed.”

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/dG5Gr4ZFU5s/citing-experience-selling-mari.html

• Hoan Ton-That, founder of facial recognition tech firm Clearview AI, previously connected to Trump world figures and online hate extremists, reports Buzzfeed News

• Chuck Johnson, Mike Cernovich, and Rudy Giuliani are among the linked figures named in Buzzfeed report

• NYPD disputes facial recognition firm Clearview AI's claim that it identified a terrorism suspect

Clearview AI is reported to have built a database of billions of photos that it says can reveal pretty much anyone's identity.

Twitter just told them to stop scraping photos, lawmakers are concerned about the implications, and now Buzzfeed News raises troubling questions about the company's past.

From the Buzzfeed report by by Ryan Mac, Caroline Haskins, and Logan McDonald:

Clearview AI, a facial recognition company that says it’s amassed a database of billions of photos, has a fantastic selling point it offers up to police departments nationwide: It cracked a case of alleged terrorism in a New York City subway station last August in a matter of seconds. “How a Terrorism Suspect Was Instantly Identified With Clearview,” read the subject line of a November email sent to law enforcement agencies across all 50 states through a crime alert service, suggesting its technology was integral to the arrest.

It’s a compelling pitch that has helped rocket Clearview to partnerships with police departments across the country. But there’s just one problem: The New York Police Department said that Clearview played no role in the case.

That's the first question. The NYPD says they're full of shit. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/o7v1EhrQnY8/facial-recognition-firm-clearv.html

I use this Logitech G502 Hero SE. It is wonderful.

I recently switched from controller to Keyboard + Mouse for my video gaming. This mouse is just great.

The shape of the mouse and the button placement just feels right in my hand. The adjustable weight system let me fine-tune the devices gravitas as I wing it around, trying to headshot some 13-year-old before they shoot me.

While the 'Hero' sensor reads upto 16000 dpi, I usually set it way down to 800 in Fortnite. This lets me turn in a more controlled manner and doesn't have the mouse zipping all over the place.

I don't really care much about the ever-changing colors that light the mouse up, but it seems all my PC gaming gear likes to do this rainbow display... and it is kinda pleasing.

I have no idea why this SPECIAL EDITION of the mouse is cheaper than the regular one, but it is and I like it!

I am gonna admit right now that moving back to KB+M over controller may screw my carpal tunnel right to hell, but I'll be super sensitive to it, and try to stop before I feel any pain. I am already playing less, but enjoying the games I play more. Sacrifices we make, right?

Logitech G502 SE Hero High Performance RGB Gaming Mouse with 11 Programmable Buttons via Amazon Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/ziZrxFuAMuU/i-love-this-logitech-gaming-mo.html

@ShaneMorris: "My fridge has an RFID chip in the water filter, which means the generic water filter I ordered for $19 doesn't work. My fridge will literally not dispense ice, or water. I have to pay @generalelectric $55 for a water filter from them."

Sound familiar?

(Image: GE, Cryteria, CC-BY, modified)

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/XzCoiaitivI/proprietary-carbon.html

Jason Klamm from the Comedy on Vinyl podcast (previously) writes, "In late 2018, I uncovered the true identity of comic Dick Davy. Since starting his archive, I've come across some real gems, but in August, one find took the cake. His niece, Sharon, mailed me two records that had been sitting in a box, and it turns out these are unreleased acetates of material no one has heard in almost sixty years. I had Firesign Theatre archivist Taylor Jessen transfer and do a quick clean-up of them. This episode discusses their contents and what their future might be." (MP3) Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/rCQYqeWbO_A/comedy-on-vinyl.html

The Los Angeles underground is absolutely one of my favorite places.

I can not speak highly enough about The A-Team. I adore the entire cast. Mr. T has been and will remain a personal hero. Read his autobiography and be inspired.

While the B.A. in B.A. Barrakus stood for bad attitude it was Captain H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock that I wanted to play, when my friends and I portrayed the team. Dwight Schultz was a delight and I can not watch him in Star Trek without thinking of his time on the A-Team.

Dirk Benedict's 'Starbuck' may have been overshadowed by another, but Templeton 'The Faceman' Peck? Faceman always had the coolest cars, and his backstory was the best on the program.

I liked to think that George Peppard's 'John 'Hannibal' Smith' had been so shattered by Holly Golightly's bullshit that he ended up enlisting in Viet Nam. Only by keeping his tight cadre of good-hearted, All-American soldiers alive could he mask the pain.

I love it when a plan comes together! Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/VaID6jaft0Y/today-in-history-1983-nbc-air.html

I'm re-reading The Emperor of Scent, by Chandler Burr. It's a non-fiction book about a guy named Luca Turin who is obsessed with odors, specifically, perfume fragrances.

Turin is a biophysicist who wrote a best-selling book that reviewed hundreds of perfumes, in the same way a wine reviewer would write about wine. He believes that the odor of a substance has to do with the way it vibrates on a molecular level. Our noses, he says, contain the equivalent of a scanning electron microscope. This flies in the face of conventional thought on the subject. The reigning theory is that smell is a function of a molecule’s shape, not the way it vibrates.

Burr makes a great case for Turin’s vibration theory, and the story of how nobody in academia will listen to Turin was a real eye opener. The peer review system for scientific journals is revealed to be totally corrupt. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/nvsW-rBjIJg/im-re-reading-the-emperor-of.html

Lawmakers in Turkey are hoping to pass a bill that would allow men who have sex with minors to avoid going to prison if they agree to marry their victim, reports The Independent.

From the article:

United Nations agencies warned the bill would generate a landscape of impunity for child abuse and leave victims vulnerable to experiencing additional mistreatment and distress from their assailants.

“Marry-your-rapist” bills have been seen across the world and are pushed in the name of protecting and safeguarding family “honour”.

Image by Salih Altuntas from Pixabay Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/u6vZozO1j3E/turkey-introduces-a-get-of-jai.html

The Nintendo Switch is an undeniably awesome gadget, pairing old-school gaming styles with modern-day graphics and functionality for a new generation of gamers.

The only complaint people seem to have is that its controllers are somewhat lacking, which is why more and more Switch-enthusiasts are picking up this Gbros. Wireless Adapter that lets you play with your go-to, original wired controllers instead.

Perfectly compatible with controllers for Gamecube, NES, SNES, and SFC, this adapter will bring a new level of familiarity to your games by allowing you to take advantage of your favorite controllers while you play your Switch.

Simply connect the adapter via Bluetooth and you’ll be able to play your favorite games at a distance of up to 33 feet.

This adapter supports both Switch and X-inputs with Windows, and you’ll be able to press and hold L+R+A+B+START in order to swap your button-mapping options between GameCube and Switch Pro.

Start playing Nintendo Switch with your favorite controllers. This Gbros. Wireless Adapter is available for 25% off at just $14.99.

Prices are subject to change.

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

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/qvDkLFtG5LU/this-adapter-lets-you-play-you.html