In the new book, Sinking in the Swamp: How Trump's Minions and Misfits Poisoned Washington, by Lachlan Markay and Asawin Suebsaeng, it's revealed that Trump appeared to have an interest in badgers:

After Trump was reminded that the short-legged omnivore was practically synonymous with the Badger State, he'd make a point of bringing it up at seemingly random occasions to his beleaguered chief of staff [Reince Priebus, a Wisconsin native].

"Are they mean to people?" Trump at least twice asked Priebus in the opening months of his presidency. "Or are they friendly creatures?" The president would also ask if Priebus had any photos of badgers he could show him, and if Priebus could carefully explain to him how badgers "work" exactly.

He wanted Reince —--resident White House badger historian, apparently -- to explain to him Wisconsin's obsession with the animal, how the little critters function and behave, what kind of food they like, and how aggressive or deadly they could be when presented with perceived existential threats.

Trump also wanted to know if the badger had a "personality" or if it was boring. What kind of damage could a badger to do a person with its flashy, sharp claws?

An obviously enthralled president would stare at Priebus as the aide struggled for sufficiently placating answers, all the while trying to gently veer the conversation back to whether we were going to do a troop surge in Afghanistan or strip millions of Americans of healthcare coverage.

[via Business Insider]

Photo by Vincent van Zalinge on Unsplash Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/13/trump-showed-an-inordinate-int.html

NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) said a "potentially hazardous" asteroid is headed our way.

According to NASA, "Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are currently defined based on parameters that measure the asteroid's potential to make threatening close approaches to the Earth."

The asteroid, with the catchy name 163373 (2002 PZ39), is taller than the largest human-made building and is moving at 34,000 miles an hour, reports International Business Times.

From the article:

NASA and other space agencies have warned that kilometer-sized asteroids can do a lot of damage to Earth. If 163373 (2002 PZ39) hits the planet, its initial blast would instantly kill off millions.

Then, due to its size, the energy from its explosion would be enough to trigger a global nuclear winter that could last for years. The harsh environmental changes triggered by the asteroid’s impact could lead to the mass extinction of different species.

According to CNEOS, 163373 (2002 PZ39)’s near-Earth intersection will happen on Feb. 15 at 6:05 a.m. EST. During this time, the asteroid will pass over the planet from a distance of 0.03860 astronomical units or around 3.6 million miles away.

Image: by NASA - [1], Public Domain, Link Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/13/nasa-reports-a-potentially-h.html

Robo Revenge is the latest brainchild of Joshua Browder, creator of the robolawyer parking-ticket-fighting app called DoNotPay. Robo Revenge gives you a burner credit card, which provides its robolawyer with the contact info for the telemarketer, and then files a suit against them.

Vice has more details:

Robo Revenge combines both features to automatically add you to the Do Not Call Registry, generate a virtual DoNotPay burner credit card to provide scammers when they illegally call you anyways, use the transaction information to get the scammer’s contact information, then walk you through how to sue them for as much as $3,000 per call under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), a law already on the books meant to protect consumers from calls that violate the Do Not Call Registry. The app also streamlines the litigation paperwork by automatically generating demand letters and court filing documents.

“There are two types of scammers. There are the scammers based abroad who are trying to get your bank details—those people you can’t sue because you don’t even know where they are. But the type we can stop is the businesses like a U.S. based travel company trying to sell you a cruise and asking for your credit card number,” Browder said. “We can take them out with U.S. based laws. If they’re calling someone and every time they’re calling someone, there’s a risk of a penalty, maybe they’ll think twice.”

Exciting news! We are launching a new service that gets you compensation from robocallers:

1.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/13/robo-revenge-automates-the-pro.html

Just in time for Valentine's Day, NPR's All Songs Considered spoke with a bunch of celebrated songwriters such as Phoebe Bridgers and M. Ward and asked them about the love songs that they wish they'd written — the masterful melodies and heartfelt turns of phrase that other poets envy and only dream to one day emulate.

It's also just a really great playlist of songs. And now it has me thinking of which song I would choose myself.

Since both "First Day of My Life" and "Love Song" were already chosen for this list, I think I'd have to go with "The Way I Feel Inside" by the Zombies or "She Is Beautiful" by Andrew WK.

What would you pick?

The Love Song I Wish I'd Written [Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton / NPR] Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/13/celebrate-your-vd-with-this-pl.html

Wendi Williams, a passenger on an American Airlines flight, says she is complaining to the FBI about a man who had been sitting behind her and continuously punching her seat because she had reclined it. Williams says when she called a flight attendant about the puncher, the attendant sympathized with the puncher and gave him free alcohol because his seat was unable to recline.

Williams recounted the incident in a series of tweets, starting with: "After much consideration, and exhausting every opportunity for American Airlines to do the right thing, I’ve decided to share my assault, from the passenger behind me, and the further threats, from an American Airline flight attendant. She offered him a complimentary cocktail!”

When the FA came. She rolled her eyes at me and said, “What?” She then told him it was tight back there and gave him rum! She told me I had to delete the video! It’s against the law to video on a plane. I asked her name & She gave me a Passenger Disturbance Notice! https://t.co/zRwy5JYr9s

 wendi (@steelersfanOG) February 8, 2020

After much consideration, and exhausting every opportunity for #AmericanAirlines to do the right thing, I’ve decided to share my assault, from the passenger behind me, and the further threats, from an American Airline flight attendant. She offered him a complimentary cocktail!

 wendi (@steelersfanOG) February 8, 2020

Here's the video:

This video has the internet legitimately divided .

Dude is in the last seat on the plane. Seat doesn’t recline.

Hers does.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/13/plane-passenger-says-shes-re.html

In the 1990s, Nintendo and Sony collaborated on a new game console. Nintendo quit the deal suddenly, one of the greatest business mistakes in video game history. Sony developed and released its own version of the PlayStation console, to spectacular success.

But there was a prototype "Nintendo PlayStation", and the working device is up for auction. It's going to go for a lot of money; bidding is already in the five figures.

Nintendo Play Station Super NES CD-ROM Prototype - Sony and Nintendo c. 1992. At one point, this dual-branded prototype's existence was mere myth, and this is the very first time it will ever be offered at public auction. It is said to be the last remaining prototype of the alleged 200 that were forged from the failed joint-venture between Sony and Nintendo, two of the biggest competitors in the home console video game market. Reportedly, the other prototypes have since been destroyed. We at Heritage can attest the prototype is working, as we've played a couple of rounds of Mortal Kombat on it using a Super Famicom cartridge.

The prototype does share some exterior similarities with both the Super Nintendo and the Sony PlayStation, but it has its own, unique characteristics as well. It has not only a slot for Super Famicom and Super Nintendo games, but a CD-ROM drive that was meant to play disc-based media and presumably video games as well. Though the CD-ROM drive was not currently working when it was found in 2009, it has since been repaired by Benjamin Heckendorn, a YouTube personality known for his console repair videos.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/13/prototype-nintendo-playstation.html

Lloyd Blankfein might sound like the name of a fictional banker villain, but he is in fact the real-life Senior Chairman  of Goldman Sachs. Prior to his current position, he served as chairman and chief executive of the infamous banking giant beginning in 2006 — just before that pesky financial crisis from which the world is still recovering.

To his credit, Blankfein did apologize for his company's role as a liquidity provider for subprime mortgages. Specifically, he said, "We participated in things that were clearly wrong and have reason to regret. We apologize." That was in 2009 — the absolute pits of the economy — and around the same time he was named "Person of the Year" by the Financial Times. Within months, he was touting his duties of "doing God's work" while the rest of us were still scrounging for employment or to recover the last few scraps of money we had foolishly invested on the advice of people on Blankfein.

Anyway, he's really concerned that Bernie Sanders will "ruin" "our" economy, should he be elected as President of the United States in the upcoming election.

If Dems go on to nominate Sanders, the Russians will have to reconsider who to work for to best screw up the US. Sanders is just as polarizing as Trump AND he’ll ruin our economy and doesn’t care about our military. If I’m Russian, I go with Sanders this time around.

 Lloyd Blankfein (@lloydblankfein) February 12, 2020

Presumably, Blankfein was not referring to our economy — as in the economy that affects normal human beings such as you or I, which he has previously participated in ruining — but rather, his economy, that is, the pleasures enjoyed by him and his ilk of obscenely wealthy, out-of-touch, and utterly untouchable oligarchs. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/13/man-who-helped-caused-2008-fin.html

A man reportedly exposed his genitals at a Houston Whataburger, then was struck and killed by an 18-wheeler truck while fleeing on foot. CBS Austin reports that police had arrived and tried to arrest him, but did not pursue him into the freeway.

It happened around 10:15 p.m. at the Whataburger on East Freeway and Wayside.

Houston Police officers responded to a call for a man exposing himself at the drive thru.

When the officer arrived, the man took off on foot, running across I-10.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/13/whataburger-flasher-killed-by.html

In today's hyper-competitive business world, generating leads and converting them into viable business is a vital numbers game that can be the difference between your operation scaling and stagnating. Unfortunately, leads are becoming more and more expensive to generate, meaning any mishandled or dropped leads can have a huge negative impact on your bottom line.

Communication is key. Staying aligned with leads, current clients, former clients, and your entire sales team is exceedingly difficult given how many communication mediums there are these days. Between the phone, email, webchats, and more, it's easier than ever to forget to follow up by simply misplacing where the original conversation took place.

That's where amoCRM shines. By centralizing each customer's communications (be it on Skype, Instagram, email etc.) into their own lead profile on the platform, this customer relationship manager (CRM) helps you keep track of all of your past communications and continue ongoing conversations without switching apps. This way, you can chat with your leads on their platform of choice, and gain quick access to all of your conversations without closing apps or switching platforms.

With the power of unified communications, your sales team is empowered to solve problems, not navigate through them. Retain and convert leads like never before with amoCRM. Right now, you can register for an extended 30 day trial through this link. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/12/this-crm-unifies-all-of-your-c.html

-- TWO WILCOCK COMICS REMAIN UNTIL THE SERIES CONCLUDES! -- From John Wilcock, New York Years, by Ethan Persoff and Scott Marshall -- (See all Boing Boing installments)

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/12/john-wilcock-the-story-behind.html

In this clip from Late Night with Seth Myers, comedian Maria Bamford talks about how she tried to take out a restraining order against "the unregistered sex offender in the White House." She said she felt unsafe having such a person in the Oval Office.

She says she "went down to the local courthouse. Saw a judge within a half hour. He denied me. Ultimately a useless gesture that didn't further the conversation in any way and wasted the time of caring professionals."

There are some other funny and heartwarming moments during the interview. Like, Maria picks people on Twitter and then meets up with them at Dunkin' Donuts to workshop her comedy. She also talks about the comedy special she did in front of an audience of two: her parents. And she talks about her show "What's Your Ailment?," where she talks, mainly to celebrities and fellow comedians, about dealing with mental health issues, something that Maria has very openly and courageously struggled with.

Image: YouTube Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/12/comedian-maria-bamford-tried-t.html

The coronavirus test kits distributed to various U.S. states and 30 other countries by the U.S. Centers for disease control may not work, and are feared to deliver results that are at best 'inconclusive,' officials said today.

In the United States, 13 cases of the infection in patients have been confirmed so far. An estimated 850 evacuees who are American have quarantined at military bases after flying from China. Others are self-quarantining at home.

From the New York Times:

The kits were meant to enable states to conduct their own testing and get results faster than they would by shipping samples to the C.D.C. in Atlanta. But the failure of the kits means that states still have to depend on the C.D.C., which will mean several days’ delay in getting results.

The C.D.C. announced last week that it had begun shipping about 200 kits to laboratories in the United States and roughly 200 more to labs in more than 30 other countries. Each kit can test about 700 to 800 specimens from patients, the agency said.

On trial runs in some states, the kits produced results that were “inconclusive,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said at a news conference on Wednesday.

“Things may not always go as smoothly as we may like,” Dr. Messonnier said.

Read more:

Coronavirus Test Kits Sent to States, 30 Countries Are Flawed, C.D.C. Says

PHOTO: CDC.GOV, the tests now seen as flawed:

This is a picture of CDC’s laboratory test kit for the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/12/coronavirus-diagnostic-tests-d.html

Last June, Chloe Haines (26) was on a flight from Dalaman in Turkey. She suddenly got out of her seat and shouted to the 206 other people on board, "I want to die" and "I'm going to kill you all" as she lunged at an exit door handle. The crew and passengers were able to restrain her.

This week, Chelmsford Crown Court court found Haines guilty and sentenced her to two years in prison, reports The Standard:

Judge Charles Gratwicke, sentencing the 26-year-old at Chelmsford Crown Court on Wednesday, said: "Those that are trapped in the confined space of the aircraft will inevitably be distressed, frightened and petrified by the actions of those who in a drunken state endanger their lives.

"For some it will be their worst nightmare come true."

(Image by dayamay from Pixabay) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/12/passenger-who-tried-to-open-pl.html

The deputy said the inebriated man initially refused a breath test, saying: “You didn’t pull me over. I pulled you over.”

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/12/florida-man-asks-deputy-for-di.html

Monty Python co-founder Terry Jones who died last month was also a scholar of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, having penned two books about the great English poet. Before Jones's death, he was collaborating with an international team of Chaucer geeks on a Canterbury Tales app called "General Prologue." It is the first in a series.

“We want the public, not just academics, to see the manuscript as Chaucer would have likely thought of it—as a performance that mixed drama and humor,” said University of Saskatchewan English professor and project leader Peter Robinson.

“We were so pleased that Terry was able to see and hear this app in the last weeks of his life. His work and his passion for Chaucer was an inspiration to us,” Robinson said. “We talked a lot about Chaucer and it was his idea that the Tales would be turned into a performance.”

From the University of Saskatchewan:

The app features a 45-minute audio performance of the General Prologue of the Tales—the masterpiece work by the most important English writer before Shakespeare—along with the digitized original manuscript. While listening to the reading, users have access to supporting content such as a translation in modern English, commentary, notes and vocabulary explaining Middle English words used by Chaucer.

The app, an offshoot of Robinson’s 25-year work to digitize the Canterbury Tales, contains key new research work. This includes a new edited text of the Prologue created by USask sessional lecturer Barbara Bordalejo, a new reading of the Tales by former USask student Colin Gibbings, and new findings about the Tales by UCL (University College London) medievalist professor Richard North.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/12/monty-python-co-founder-terry.html

Within Disney's fantastically complicated five-tier ticket pricing scheme, the cost of a one-day pass has increased from $199 to $209 per day. Here are other highlights from the SFGate article about Disney's new prices:

The MaxPass, which enables a park visitor to digitally book reservations for rides and attractions instead of waiting in line, increased to $20 from $15.

Parking stayed flat at $25 a day.

The price of the least expensive annual pass, the Select Pass, which blocks out holidays and peak-demand days, rose 5% to $419 from $399. The most expensive annual pass, the Premier Pass, which gives guests access to Disney parks in Anaheim and Orlando, Fla., without blocking any dates, jumped 13% to $2,199 from $1,949.

(Image: Mickey Mouse riding toy in Chinatown, New York City, by Benjamin Thompson, CC-BY-SA 2.0) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/12/disney-one-day-passes-now-cost.html

President Trump today was asked by a reporter if he would pardon Roger Stone.

His reply:

“I don't want to say that yet...”

During a photo op in the Oval Office, Donald Trump again thanked his Justice Department for intervening in the sentencing recommendation for Stone yesterday.

Again, the impeached president called a 9-year sentence "a disgrace."

Trump from pooler @Laura_Figueroa -

”They treated Roger Stone very badly...”

“no one even knows what he did...it’s a disgrace...they ought to apologize to him”

Asked if he would pardon Stone:“I don't want to say that yet...”

 Debra J. Saunders (@debrajsaunders) February 12, 2020

"I don't want to say yet," says Pres Trump, asked if he's considering a pardon for Roger Stone. During Oval Office photo op, Trump thanks Justice Dept for intervening in the sentencing recommendation for Stone. Again calls a 9-year sentence "a disgrace."

 Mark Knoller (@markknoller) February 12, 2020

Per pool reporter, President Trump was just asked in the Oval if he would pardon Roger Stone. He replied: “I don't want to say that yet.”

 Eamon Javers (@EamonJavers) February 12, 2020

President Trump when asked if he would pardon Roger Stone, per pool:“I don't want to say that yet...”

 Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) February 12, 2020

NEW: @realDonaldTrump asked again by pool reporters if he is considering a a pardon for Roger Stone?

.@realdonaldtrump responds: “I don’t want to say yet.”

 Fin Gomez (@finnygo) February 12, 2020

Vaguely surprised this didn't exist yet. Interesting timing. "Michael Caputo, former campaign advisor to President Donald J.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/12/trump-asked-about-roger-stone.html

Ex-convict, sex scandalist, and TV evangelist Jim Bakker is at it again.

The 'Christian television pioneer' and snake oil entrepreneur is now selling a purported coronavirus cure that also turns you blue for no additional charge.

He's implying in this video clip snipped by @RightWingWatch that a colloidal silver bullshit product he sells will kill coronavirus within 12 hours (it does not).

Only one way to test this out, though.

Dump him in Wuhan with only a bottle of colloidal silver and let God sort it out.

The Jim Bakker Show is suggesting that the silver solution it sells can kill the coronavirus within 12 hours. pic.twitter.com/kbUGnUp69m

 Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 12, 2020

We have written about this idiot many times before.

[H/T: @wokyleeks] Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/12/televangelist-jim-bakker-sugge.html

During a promotional event for the movie Sonic the Hedgehog, Jim Carrey was asked by Heat Magazine's Charlotte Long if the actor had anything remaining on his bucket list (things one wants to do or see in life before “kicking the bucket”).

“Just you”, he replied.

Super gross.

Jim Carrey condemned over 'creepy' sexual remark to female journalist https://t.co/wUv4QzTA1V

 The Independent (@Independent) February 12, 2020

An entertainment journalist got an unexpected reply when she asked Jim Carrey what was left on his bucket listhttps://t.co/ImtFYGwJTa

 ES Entertainment (@StandardEnts) February 12, 2020

Jim Carrey raises eyebrows with inappropriate response to journalist's bucket list question https://t.co/s4PA0ZUN7X

 HuffPost UK (@HuffPostUK) February 12, 2020

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/12/jim-carrey-was-super-gross-to.html

'Secret Service had been charged up to $650 per night for rooms at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida, and charged $17,000 a month for a cottage at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster'

https://boingboing.net/2020/02/12/house-dems-press-secret-servic.html