Back in August someone found an interesting way to get rid of old CRTs. They did this over 50x!!!

6ABC:

No need to adjust that dial. Doorbell surveillance cameras captured the man with a TV set over his head, laying an older set down on someone's front porch and just walking off.

"He wants to be known as the TV Santa Claus. I don't know," Brooksbank told WTVR-TV.

The bizarre discovery happened Sunday morning in Henrico's Hampshire neighborhood. Outdated boxes were found at more than 50 homes.

(h/t Leo!) Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/h2S1tmiuOK4/man-with-tv-on-his-head-caught.html

In 2002 Nintendo released Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for GameCube. One of the great things about the title (which was not well received when it first came out but is now rated highly in the Zelda pantheon) it its pioneering use of cel shading - a stylistic technique to add shading to 3D graphics to make them look less realistic (in a bad way) and more cartoony (in a good way). Even Breath of the Wild puts the cel shading aesthetic to good use.

In the 14-minute video, "How The Wind Waker Defined Cel Shading," Michael "Jasper" Ashworth goes into interesting detail about how Nintendo "was able to pull off cel shading at a time when nobody else was able to."

If you are at all interested in 3D graphics, and the history of video games and how they were made, Jasper's video channel is a must-watch. My 16-year-old daughter told me about him a while back. He only has about 30k subscribers, and he deserves 100 times that number, given the quality of his work. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Sxef-4PXjmI/this-video-explains-how-cel-sh.html

Companies like Edubirdie offer platforms for academic cheating, connecting freelance essay-writers with desperate students who pay hundreds of dollars to have their academic papers ghostwritten for them. Edubirdie has recruited customers with on-campus "epic parties" which offered organizers $250, along with branded cups and a standee with the company's mascot, in exchange for posting five or more photos of students posed with the standee and hashtagged with #EduBirdieParty. The organizer whose party that received the most attention would get $3,000 and a 2-hour DJ set.

It's just one of the many techniques used by the cheating platforms to drum up business, including running deceptive "study groups": a recruiter posing as a student will post notices offering a "study group" for people struggling with an assignment, and when students call in to join, they're given a hard-sell to pay for ghostwritten essays.

Some students are offered major discounts on cheating services in exchange for providing a photo or screenshot of their class email lists.

One former ghostwriter who spoke to Ed Surge says that the majority of his customers were not spoiled rich kids (he says these were 15% of his business), but rather struggling students, especially adults who had returned to university, or foreign students with poor English language skills.

Edubirdie claims it doesn't facilitate cheating, but the testimonials on its site come from customers who describe how cheating with Edubirdie freelancers saved their grades.

Morgan, the spokesperson for EduBirdie, says the company no longer sponsors parties, but she defended the practice.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/CdvAfxKRi6o/edubirdieparty.html

Cum-ex (previously) is a technical, boring financial engineering technique that lets fraudsters file multiple tax-refund claims for the same stock transactions (they called it "dividend arbitrage"); from 2006-2011, the EU's largest, most respectable banks, law firms, and investors used the scam to steal $60,000,000,000.

Cum-ex is the kind of scam that the finance sector excels at: a socially useless financial engineering marvel that makes staggeringly rich people much richer, protected by a thicket of dull, deliberately complexified terminology and tactics that exist solely to obfuscate the obvious fraud underway.

A few bankers have gone on trial for criminal fraud for their role in cum-ex, but so far most of the perpetrators have gotten away with it, keeping the money (one trader, Sanjay Shah, relocated from London to Dubai and bought a $1.3m yacht he calls the Cum-Ex).

But German prosecutors have embarked on an aggressive program of prosecutions for everyone who profited from cum-ex, including the prominent lawyers who wrote legal opinions arguing that cum-ex was legal. They are launching 400 prosecutions stemming from 56 investigations. Among those is Hanno Berger, a former German state tax auditor who switched sides and became a key player in the theft.

Berger is a revered European finance law scholar, and his work was key to conferring a halo of lawfulness to the otherwise obvious scam. In private, Berger was more frank. One of the lawyers who worked with him says that he told the lawyers he supervised that they should quit if they didn't have the stomach for raiding the German state's coffers: "Whoever has a problem with the fact that because of our work there are fewer kindergartens being built, here’s the door." Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/n3FF4rFc2To/hanno-berger.html

If you're interested in either beginning or furthering a career in graphic design, you need to have a thorough understanding of Adobe's famed editing and illustration tools, and these bundles will get you to where you need to be for a fraction of what you'd pay for an in-class education.

1. The Essential Adobe Photoshop CC Bundle

MSRP: $199 | Sale Price: $25 (87% off)

This bundle comes with five comprehensive courses that will teach you how to professionally edit your photos in the world’s leading editing platform—through instruction that walks you through lighting tricks, vector tools, contrast ratios, and more.

2. The 2020 Adobe InDesign CC Master Class Bundle

MSRP: $221 | Sale Price: $40 (81% off)

Learn how to create industry-leading layouts both online and in print with this 5-course bundle that teaches you about desktop publishing, newsletter layouts, design essentials, and how to get great print results in any medium.

3. The 2020 Adobe Illustrator CC Master Class Bundle

MSRP: $284 | Sale Price: $40 (85% off)

With six courses and over 30 hours of training, this bundle will teach you how to create incredibly realistic images—with courses that focus on scaling, alignment, color application, and more.

4. The Adobe After Effects & Nuke VFX Production Bundle

MSRP: $617 | Sale Price: $29 (95% off)

Master visual effects for movies with this 4-course bundle, which features instruction from an actual Hollywood VFX artist who introduces you to editing essentials, visual effects, post-production strategies, and workflow tools.

Prices are subject to change. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/dbYKx3GC90E/become-an-in-demand-graphic-de.html

In the latest example of Trump's Used-Car-Salesman tactics of free-association to find any word that sticks with a listener just to close a deal, the Commander In Chief of the US Armed Forces said today on CNBC that the wheel was invented by an innovative American capitalist, as an example of the corporate ingenuity that must be protected at all costs.

Trump seems to believe the wheel was invented in the United States: "We have to protect all of these people that came up with, originally, the light bulb and the wheel and all of these things." pic.twitter.com/re6CyRi6HY

 Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 22, 2020

It's not particularly notable or remarkable that Trump also credits Thomas Edison with the invention of the light bulb. It is true that Edison (through his company) perfected and patented a practical modern light bulb for use in American homes. But people across the globe had been experimenting with incandescent bulbs for a century before Edison locked it down; in fact, Edison's initial patent was denied because it was too derivative of the work done by William Sawyer.

But of course Edison gets all the credit. And in this case, that's not really an indictment on Trump. It is, however, a painfully accurate metaphor for the kind of "innovators" who actually get rewarded under American Capitalism — savvy business people who navigate legal loopholes to profit off of someone else's labor and ideas.

This all reminds me of something I saw on Twitter once. I can't find the original source right now, but the argument was essentially that American colonists used the wheel to prove their superiority over Native Americans. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/i8XRNmhlopw/donald-trump-thinks-the-wheel.html

Laptops are great when it comes to getting work done on the move, but sometimes you need a better and more responsive keyboard in order to get your work done away from your desktop. Here are six top-rated Bluetooth keyboards that will help you power through your tasks both at the office or while you’re traveling.

1. Gotek Voyage Ergonomic Bluetooth Keyboard

MSRP: $89 | Sale Price: $72 (19% off)

Get your work done faster and more efficiently with this V-shaped keyboard that offers Bluetooth connectivity, an ergonomic 166-degree typing angle, and a stand that supports devices with screen sizes of up to thirteen inches.

2. Gotek Slim Wireless Keyboard

MSRP: $49 | Sale Price: $40 (18% off)

This wireless keyboard features a full QWERTY layout, function keys, and a battery that can last for up to 100 hours on a single charge—making it ideal for frequent travelers and commuters.

3. Foldable Bluetooth Keyboard with Built-In Stand

MSRP: $79 | Sale Price: $63 (20% off)

This ultra-thin and lightweight keyboard makes for the perfect travel companion, thanks to its compact design and a built-in stand that makes it easy to attach a wide range of devices.

4. Gotype Rollable Keyboard with Bluetooth Speaker

MSRP: $99 | Sale Price: $75 (24% off)

Type more accurately and enjoy music on the go with this portable roll-up keyboard. You’ll be able to use it with both Apple and Android devices, and there’s a built-in stand along with an HD Bluetooth speaker that offers a rich bass along with crystal-clear highs. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/x8F-6_KPE_o/type-more-efficiently-on-the-g.html

Warner subsidiary Otter Media has a division called Fullscreen ("a social content company for talent and brands") that has been demonetizing Youtubers' videos that use the numbers 36 and 50 (and possibly other numbers, for all we know), claiming that their use of these integers is a copyright violation. Doing so allows Warner to steal the money that these Youtubers' videos would otherwise earn.

Youtube operates a filter called Content ID that allows rightsholders to automatically claim control over user-created videos that contain materials that are the rightsholders' copyrighted works. This system has no checks and balances and virtually no penalties for abuse, and users who complain can attract "copystrikes" -- three of these, and you lose your account and your videos, permanently, with no appeal.

Filter systems like Content ID are now mandatory for all types of online communications services in the EU thanks to last year's Copyright Directive, and, unfortunately, European lawmakers deliberately chose not to including protections from this kind of bad-faith censorship and theft, despite repeated warnings.

AnneMunition hit with bizarre copyright strike for using random numbers [Andrew Amos/Dexerto]

(via Techdirt)

did you guys know you can copyright the number 36 pic.twitter.com/dnja297R73

 Anne Munition (@AnneMunition) January 24, 2020

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/UBPV2fNxx9g/thanks-otter-media.html

China confirmed an additional 15 deaths on Friday from the so-called Wuhan virus, officially known as Novel Coronavirus 2019-nCoV.

Wuhan, the Chinese city of 11 million where the outbreak sparked, is in virtual lockdown.

Around the world, 1,000 people are now confirmed infected with the new virus. Health authorities are working to prevent a global pandemic.

EARLIER TODAY: Second U.S. case of Wuhan coronavirus 2019-nCoV confirmed by CDC

From Reuters:

The Health Commission of Hubei Province said in a statement published early Saturday that 180 new cases had been reported as of end-Friday, putting the total number of confirmed patients in the province at 752.

All 15 deaths reported by the commission occurred in Wuhan, the province’s capital and epicenter of the outbreak that has been in virtual quarantine as China scrambles to contain the virus spread. There has been no new national-level data available yet from Chinese authorities. The National Health Commission on Friday had confirmed 830 cases.

The vast majority of the cases and all of the 41 confirmed deaths to date have been in China, but the virus has also been detected in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal, France and the United States. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new coronavirus an “emergency in China” this week but stopped short of declaring it of international concern. The virus continues to spread globally, however: French authorities reported Europe’s first confirmed cases on Friday evening.

More at Reuters: China virus death toll rises to 41, more than 1,000 infected [reuters.com] Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/3RWwZwrlbdM/china-death-toll-from-wuhan-vi.html

Kevin Kelly and I interviewed our friend Jane Metcalfe for the Cool Tools podcast. Jane is the founder of NEO.LIFE, a media and events company tracking how digital tools and an engineering mindset are transforming human biology. Prior to that, she made chocolate on a pier in San Francisco at TCHO Chocolate. Jane is probably best known as the cofounder of Wired magazine.

The Kickstarter campaign for her new book "Neo.Life: 25 Visions for the Future of Our Species" is now live.

Subscribe to the Cool Tools Show on iTunes | RSS | Transcript | See all the Cool Tools Show posts on a single page

Show notes:

Offi Mag Table ($249) I love bent plywood! I also love magazines, so this bent plywood magazine holder/side table designed by Eric Pfieffer is a total winner. There is something just so satisfying about seeing a sweep of beautiful wood flow down into a curve and splash back up the other side. And that's not all. The table makes a perfect companion to your LazyBoy recliner for Sunday afternoon reading delight. But, you can also turn it on its end and use it as a makeshift work surface, which is great when a colleague has to come be in the video conference but also wants desk space to take notes. It's so good looking I used it this week on stage for an event we produced.

Souk Shopper Basket by Bohemia I used to find shopping at farmers markets physically taxing mostly because I get excited and buy way more than I can carry, always. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/tLSm670RznI/jane-metcalfe-co-founder-neo.html

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/GVsTtUMXFkI/perdita.html

In Vermont, a moose got stuck on an active railroad bridge, and state fish and wildlife officials managed to remove the moose and relocate it to the wilderness with minimal injuries.

From AP:

State Fish and Wildlife received a report Wednesday morning that a moose was stuck on a bridge near the Ludlow and Cavendish area in southern Vermont.

Local game wardens and wildlife biologists, with assistance from the Springfield Fire Department and a crew from the Vermont Rail System, sedated the moose and picked it up with a railroad crane truck.

Here's the original post from Vermont Fish & Wildlife on Facebook, which includes a video:

SUCCESS!

On Wednesday morning it was reported to Vermont Fish and Wildlife that a moose was stuck in an active railroad trestle bridge next to Route 103 in the Ludlow/Cavendish area. Vermont game wardens and wildlife biologists with assistance from the Springfield Fire Department and a crew from the Vermont Rail System were able to sedate the moose, pick it up with a railroad crane truck, and relocate it to a safe area where it could return to the wild with minimal injuries.

The focus of the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is on population level threats to species, and it is rare that this kind of intervention makes sense because of the risk posed to the animal and responders. Such recoveries are many times not successful. It’s great to see that in this case it ended well for those involved and for this very fortunate moose.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/4OWfravo-7I/moose-stuck-on-railroad-bridge.html

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/v5uNhkhCz9M/second-u-s-case-of-wuhan-coro.html

Europe's first three cases of the Wuhan coronavirus were confirmed in France confirmed on Friday. Two patients are hospitalized in Paris, and one in Bordeaux.

French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn [BMFTV interview] said during a Friday news conference that two cases, Europe’s first, are confirmed. and that more cases were likely to occur in France.

And in a different announcement on Friday by the Health Ministry, the third case was announced. This patient is a relative of one of the earlier two diagnosed.

Excerpt from Reuters:

Earlier, the charity SOS Medecins said it had treated one of the cases, a patient of Chinese origin who was showing symptoms of a fever and who said he had been in contact with people from Wuhan in China, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak.

Buzyn said the patient was 48 years old and had returned two days ago from a trip to China which included a stop in Wuhan.

“He’s been put in an isolated room so as to avoid any contact with the outside world. He’s fine”, she said.

In separate news, China's Hubei province today confirmed 15 ADDITIONAL deaths from the Wuhan coronavirus.

Read More at Reuters: France confirms first three cases of coronavirus in Europe [January 24, 2020]

China reported 15 more deaths and 180 new cases of coronavirus, according to a statement from the health department of Hubei province, as the outbreak escalates.

The outbreak that began in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, has prompted China to ramp up measures to contain the virus including suspending public transport in 10 cities, shutting temples over the Lunar New Year and closing part of the Great Wall.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/ZaEo8K92htU/wuhan-coronavirus-france-conf.html

PHOTO provided by Anna Dubrovskaya, in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. When a circus troupe tried to load the animals into a truck to head to the next destination, they resisted, and walked away.

In Russia's third-largest city, Yekaterinburg, some residents recently witnessed two elephants wandering snowy streets, after escaping from an Italian circus passing through town.

It's fun in the snow for two elephants who escaped from a circus in Russia's third-biggest city https://t.co/n3rIh8VNEm pic.twitter.com/1kL3uFdUiV

 AP Europe (@AP_Europe) January 24, 2020

From AP:

Unreceptive to attempts to bring her back, one of the female elephants crossed a busy street and headed to a residential building to roll and cavort in the snow on Thursday. One man who tried to stop her by holding on to her trunk was pushed across the street, his feet sliding on the ice.

The local circus said the two elephants — Karla and Ranni — belonged to an Italian company that ran a show in Yekaterinburg during the New Year holidays.

When its troupe tried to load the animals into a truck to head to the next destination, they resisted and walked away. The circus said that Ranni loitered near the loading point but the more adventurous Karla decided to make a tour of the city. Handlers finally got a rope around one of the elephant’s front legs, but it took a dozen people to pull her back. She reluctantly obeyed after playing in the snow.

2 elephants escape from circus in Russian city [apnews.com] Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/HSdCdqb5EHo/russia-2-elephants-escape-fro.html

I love when YouTube food maker Alexis Gabriel Ainouz (better known as French Guy Cooking) launches into a series of videos exploring some food obsession of his. He's done it for dry-aged beef, ramen noodles, croissants, and omelettes. Now he's on a quest to understand what makes the perfect Italian-style meatball and to make-a the meatball.

His quest quickly takes him to New York City. Why NYC in search of perfect Italian meatballs? As Alex points out, the Italian meatball we carnivores know and love is actually the product of Italian immigrants living in the United States, using the ingredients available to them here.

Next stop? Sweden (for obvious, non-Italian, meatball reasons). Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/5MNi4r07eec/alex-of-french-guy-cooking.html

The life of an entrepreneur is rarely easy, regardless of whether you’re running Google or have yet to get your first idea off the ground. So why not make your life easier with a lifetime subscription to Zuitte 50+ Tools for Entrepreneurs while it’s over 90% off?

With over 50 powerful tools that help everyday entrepreneurs run and grow their businesses, Zuitte makes it easy to manage virtually every element of your business from a single location.

Built from the ground up for everyone from drop-shippers and Amazon FBA sellers to YouTubers and social media influencers, this all-in-one suite of apps and tools allows you to research your competitors, analyze customer behavior, explore keyword ideas, and more.

It’s also easy to automate your social media platforms and schedule future posts—allowing you to maximize performance and enhance your marketing campaigns.

Streamline your business management and promotion with a lifetime subscription to Zuitte 50+ Tools for Entrepreneurs for just $199.

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/IB24hvTKKQk/grow-your-business-with-this-a.html

Jamie Dimon (previously) is the Jpmorganchase CEO who committed a $13b mortgage fraud and whose company received $25B in TARP bailout money, $500B in low-cost federal loans, and billions more through the bailout of their insurer, AIG.

He's been talking a lot of shit about how bad socialism is for the world, but as Matt Stoller (previously) points out, Dimon is a very selective form of socialism, who wants a command economy where he does the commanding and where there is no state intervention in the market except when it benefits him.

Stoller's in excellent form in this clip and well worth watching.

(via Naked Capitalism)

(Thumbnail image: Presidencia de la Rep'ublica Mexicana, CC BY, modified) Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/YOwY49MC588/jamie-dimon-is-a-highly-selec.html

I like almost everything OXO makes. This OXO Good Grips Silicone Sink Strainer ( on Amazon) was a welcome replacement for the wire mesh one we had, because some of the wires had broken. Those little protruding wires hurt when they poke your finger. The OXO strainer is made of soft silicone and that won't hurt you. To clean the collect food debris, just pop the cup inside out in the trash. One reviewer on Amazon said it is still in good condition after four years of use. I've had mine since 2016 and it is working perfectly.

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/xnkErogkBrE/good-inexpensive-silicone-kit.html

According to Wikipedia, Pantone 448 C has been dubbed "The ugliest colour in the world."

Described as a "drab dark brown," it was selected in 2016 as the colour for plain tobacco and cigarette packaging in Australia, after market researchers determined that it was the least attractive colour. The Australian Department of Health initially referred to the color as "olive green," but the name was changed after concerns were expressed by the Australian Olive Association.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/N94nldEV0es/meet-pantone-448-c-the-ugli.html