The Rialto Report is a podcast series and digital library that archives oral histories, images, magazines and books covering the golden age of the adult film industry in New York, from the early-1960s to the mid-1980s. It’s the project of adult film historians Ashley West and April Hall, both of whom served as consultants for HBO’s The Deuce.

Their podcast interviews are in-depth, intimate, and unrivaled, featuring some of the industry’s biggest and most influential names of the era; Seka, George Payne, Candy Samples, Hyapatia Lee, Jerry Butler, Candida Royalle, and Uschi Digard are among other well-and-lesser-known performers and industry stakeholders featured throughout the series.

Certainly, this “golden age” wasn’t exactly golden for all involved. Many performers—both women and men—were exploited, underpaid, mistreated, abused, or worse, and the Rialto Report doesn’t sugarcoat. Their interviews pull no punches and never miss an opportunity, allowing their subjects the space to share their perspectives and tell their own stories—many of them surprising, some of them shocking, all of them intriguing—bringing listeners to the inside of an opaque industry during New York’s epoch of the X-rated.

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https://boingboing.net/2020/03/05/if-you-loved-hbos-the-deu.html

For the next year or so, the NASA Deep Space Network's 70-meter-wide (230-feet-wide) radio antenna in Canberra, Australia will have limited functionality is it undergoes critical upgrades. As a result, NASA won't be able to transmit commands 12 billion miles into space to the intrepid Voyager 2 space probe that recently recovered quite beautifully from a glitch. Both Voyager 1 and 2, launched in 1977, are currently hurtling through the interstellar space carrying scientific instruments and a Golden Record ready to be played by any extraterrestrials who might encounter the probes over the next few billion years. From NASA:

The repairs will benefit far more than Voyager 2, including future missions like the Mars 2020 rover and Moon to Mars exploration efforts. The network will play a critical role in ensuring communication and navigation support for both the precursor Moon and Mars missions and the crewed Artemis missions. "The maintenance is needed to support the missions that NASA is developing and launching in the future, as well as supporting the missions that are operating right now," said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager and JPL Director for the Interplanetary Network.

The three Canberra 34-meter (111-foot) antennas can be configured to listen to Voyager 2's signal; they just won't be able to transmit commands. In the meantime, said Dodd, the Voyager team will put the spacecraft into a quiescent state, which will still allow it to send back science data during the 11-month downtime.

"We put the spacecraft back into a state where it will be just fine, assuming that everything goes normally with it during the time that the antenna is down," said Dodd.

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/05/nasa-wont-be-able-to-talk-to.html

On Tuesday, a driver in South Los Angeles turned onto the light rail tracks at the absolute worst possible moment. According to police, the individual amazingly suffered only "scrapes and bruises." From ABC7:

From the video, it appears a gate was down blocking traffic that would be approaching in the right lane, but there was no gate blocking the left side. With normal two-way traffic, that side would be driving into oncoming vehicles in any case.

It was not immediately apparent if there were any flashing lights or bells working at that crossing.

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/05/watch-a-fast-moving-train-sma.html

"Insert Coin" is a new documentary about Midway, the Chicago-based videogame developer that transformed the industry with Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and other coin-op classics. Director Joshua Tsui funded the film via this Kickstarter and will premiere at the SXSW Film Festival later this month. From the film description:

Eugene Jarvis, the creator of 80s classic videogames such as Defender and Robotron, returns to the industry in the 90s. In the process, he assembles a team that pioneers the concept of bringing live-action into videogames, kickstarting a new era in the arcades.

The technology mushrooms into massive hits such as Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam and soon the team begins to conquer the world. What began as a small tight-knit group begins to deal with success and eventually the rise of home consumer technology.

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/05/trailer-for-insert-coin-a.html

Legendary physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson, whose mind-blowing work ranged from quantum electrodynamics to nuclear engineering to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, died last week at 96-years-old. Tim O'Reilly just published a tribute to Dyson's genius, curiosity, kindness and unique lens on, well, everything. From O'Reilly Radar:

When I interviewed Freeman on stage at OSCON in 2004, along with his son George, the subject strayed to digital preservation. I lamented how much would be lost due to incompatible standards for information storage, and he said, “Oh no, forgetting is so important! It is what gives room for new ideas to come in.” This was such a typical Freeman moment: bringing a profoundly fresh perspective to any discussion. Perhaps the most famous example is the paper he wrote in 1949 at the age of 25 making the case that the visualizations of Richard Feynman were mathematically equivalent to the calculations of the more conventional physicists Julian Schwinger and Shin’ichiro Tomonaga, a paper that led to Feynman, Schwinger, and Tomonaga receiving the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics for the theory of quantum electrodynamics...

After George sent an email to a group of friends about Freeman’s death, Danny Hillis replied with a story that seems to perfectly encapsulate this gift of Freeman’s for seeing things that others missed. “I visited him recently,” Danny wrote, “and we got into a conversation about self-organizing systems. After lunch we climbed up the long stairs to his office, and when we sat down he seemed a bit distracted.

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/05/freeman-dyson-as-remembered-by.html

A man will go to jail for the crime of videoing himself licking ice cream and then returning the beslobbered dessert to the freezer, despite checking it out afterwards. The social media stunt earned D’Adrien Anderson, 24, much attention online, but now it's earned him 30 days in jail. He'll also have to pay a $1000 fine and reimburse Blue Bell Creameries, which apparently destroyed the entire freezerful of products.

Security footage proved that after the video ends, Anderson took and paid for the ice cream he licked. But it was to no avail.

The incident happened Aug. 26 at a Walmart in Port Arthur. Store surveillance cameras showed that he finally took the Blue Bell ice cream from the freezer and bought it, which wasn’t captured in the social media video, authorities said. Anderson could have been sentenced to up to a year in jail and fined $4,000 for misdemeanor criminal mischief.

As reported by the A.P., the crime here was partially consuming a product before checking it out -- something a lot of people do every day. I suspect he was prosecuted because his gross viral video made people like District Attorney Bob Wortham experience anger and resentment. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/05/ice-cream-licker-jailed.html

It was the early 1980s; MTV was in its infancy, the New Music scene was beginning to hit national airwaves, and Josie Cotton was having a moment. She had an international hit with the infamous Johnny Are You Queer (decried by some as homophobic and banned in Amsterdam, but also simultaneously embraced as an anthem played in heavy rotation at Pride parades), brought her inimitable style to the 1983 movie Valley Girl, and was making charts with the marginal hits He Could Be the One, and with the early music video, Jimmy Loves Maryann.

Just before she was to complete what would have been her third album, Cotton was dropped by her label, Elektra records. She finished the album nonetheless, but later chose to step back from the music industry altogether, and the tracks were packed away, divided, and lost in storage.

Although less-visible than her contemporaries of the L.A. music scene (Josie Cotton is the invention of Kathleen Josey, who is rumored to be a Texas oil heiress whose grandfather was a business partner of J. Paul Getty), Cotton remained a prolific songwriter and singer, releasing several excellent albums over the years, adeptly exploring a variety of genres and reinventing herself with each project, but on independent labels and without much hoopla. A lot of her later work is top notch: Rabbit Hole, Beautiful But Deadly from Movie Disaster Music. See The New Hong Kong, If a Lie Was Love, All I Can See is the Face of Bruce Lee, Super 8 from Pussycat Babylon, and her inspired, under-the-radar collection of exploitation movie themes, Invasion of the B-Girls. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/05/josie-cotton-released-a-new-al.html

You've probably seen this triangle before: Fast, Cheap, Good -- Pick Two. Here's a new bridge-building technique from Austria that seems to allow the customer to get a bridge that's faster, cheaper, better than traditional bridges.

From Popular Mechanics:

The umbrella method is a completely new way to construct a static final bridge. This TU Wien team first worked on the idea in 2006, and it’s been experimenting and fine tuning since then. Instead of traditional kinds of bridge building—i.e. putting up long-term scaffolding as rebar is laid and concrete is filled into structures—this mechanism is built like a “closed” umbrella and then unfolded into its final position. From there, its hollow girders are filled with concrete and the rest of the structural elements are completed.

“Erecting bridges using scaffolding usually takes months,” designer Johann Kollegger said in a statement. “The elements for the balanced lowering method, on the other hand, can be set up in two to three days, and the lowering process takes around three hours.” But this process, he says, is less invasive for bridges through protected or uneven terrain. The team's sample bridge over the Lafnitz River touches a nature preserve.

Image: YouTube Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/05/new-way-of-building-bridges-co.html

Nobody wants to get bogged down in the details. These days, there’s too much going on to get lost in the weeds of endless exposition and meandering digressions. We’re all in a hurry. We’re all racing the clock. Boil it down. Give me the bullet.

That’s the heart of the getAbstract philosophy. Among the mountains of valuable non-fiction books out there, getAbstract is committed to cutting right to their hearts and offering all the most critical information those tomes have to offer. You can try out getAbstract for yourself right now with a three-year starter subscription at only $99.99, two-thirds off the regular price.

With getAbstract, you instantly gain access to over 5,000 summaries of books from more than 300 different categories.

Whether you’re interested in self improvement, politics, science, technology, economics, history or more, each book in the getAbstract library has a 10-minute abstract ready for you to consume.

Created by getAbstract’s world-class team of business writers and editors, each written or audio abstract summarizes the main points of each work and its significant takeaways. These are no flimsy, book-report-style summaries either. Many of these encapsulations have seen print around the world in publications like The New York Times, Fortune, Financial Times, BusinessWeek, and other leading US and European outlets.

You’ll also find an overall rating for each book and even recommendations for the type of audience the book might appeal to as well as what interested readers might want to examine next.

The getAbstract experience has already captured loads of online users, who have given the service a nearly 4 out of 5 star grade in reviews compiled by Google Play and the Apple App Store. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/04/no-time-to-read-this-app-lets.html

Matt Reeves, director of The Batman, just tweeted images of the new Batmobile and it looks like a souped-up 1970s muscle car. Less military, more Mopar. Nice ride, Bruce.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/04/the-new-batmobile-looks-like-a.html

Between November 24 and December 1, 2020, NASA's Curiosity rover captured the above image on the surface of Mars. The image contains nearly 1.8 billion pixels composed of more than 1,000 images. From NASA:

The rover's Mast Camera, or Mastcam, used its telephoto lens to produce the panorama and relied on its medium-angle lens to produce a lower-resolution panorama that includes the rover's deck and robotic arm.

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/04/nasas-glorious-new-1-8-billi.html

Federal officials say a medical screener at Los Angeles International Airport has tested positive for coronavirus.

The DHS contractor was performing CDC medical screenings at LAX airport, and became sick. They have now tested positive for COVID-19.

The patient first exhibited symptoms Saturday, February 29.

Their last shift at LAX was on February 21.

From NBC News:

The person last worked screening air travelers for illness on Feb. 21, the DHS said in a statement, which also said the medical professional had worn the proper protective gear while working. The internal email described the person as a "contract medical screener" for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The email also said "these screeners are predominantly assigned to the CDC in-transit lounge and a few support jetway screening on direct flights from China."

In its statement, the DHS said: "Late last night, DHS headquarters was alerted to a situation where one of our contracted medical professionals conducting screenings at LAX international airport had tested positive for COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus. This individual is currently under self-quarantine at home with mild symptoms and under medical supervision. Their immediate family is also under home quarantine."

According to DHS, the individual began to exhibit cold-like symptoms on Saturday and visited a primary care doctor on Sunday and was tested for COVID-19, which came back positive on Tuesday. The individual's last shift at LAX was Feb. 21, more than a week before the appearance of symptoms. According to the internal email, the screener worked at LAX from Feb.

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/04/screener-at-los-angeles-airpor.html

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $8.3 billion bill to address the coronavirus outbreak in a bipartisan vote late Wednesday.

A Senate vote is expected Thursday.

The U.S. House has passed an $8.3 billion measure to battle the coronavirus outbreak. The Senate is likely to pass the measure Thursday and send it to the White House for President Trump's signature. https://t.co/bg3hXA7kGu

 The Associated Press (@AP) March 4, 2020

NEWS: House passes $8 billion #coronavirus supplemental on vote of 415 to 2. Next stop: Senate for Thursday vote. pic.twitter.com/m3Q35LM621

 Nancy Ognanovich (@NOgnanovich) March 4, 2020

Today, the House passed an $8.3 billion package, funding a robust response to the coronavirus.

This includes funds for vaccine development as well as ensuring those vaccines are affordable to all.

This package fully addresses the scale & seriousness posed by this health crisis.

 James E. Clyburn (@WhipClyburn) March 4, 2020

I just voted on the House floor to pass a #coronavirus spending package to ensure that our public health officials have the resources they need to combat the virus.

Here's a reminder of what you can do to stop the spread of germs. pic.twitter.com/jV9lo783Cg

 Rep. Blunt Rochester (@RepLBR) March 4, 2020

NEW: US House passes $8B in emergency funding for coronavirus preparedness; measure moves to the Senate. pic.twitter.com/5BdtUycWjv

 NBC News (@NBCNews) March 4, 2020

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/04/house-passes-8-3b-coronavirus.html

No, not problem celebrities.

Is it canceled yet? keeps track of events, conferences and gatherings that may or may not have been canceled due to coronavirus fears. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/04/is-it-canceled-yet.html

We’ve been hearing about them for years — literally. We even got some leaked video a few weeks ago of this latest iteration. And now, we may finally have the folding smartphone that buyers are ready to truly embrace.

Samsung has dropped its brand new foldable Galaxy Z Flip, and outlets, as esteemed as CNN, are already calling it “the best foldable smartphone.” Of course, you want to check that out for yourself...so if you win the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 256GB Giveaway, we’ll give you one for free.

It should come as no surprise that the Flip’s compact size and design have everybody talking. The 6.7-inch Infinity Flex glass display on the Flip is about the width of a human hair, yet is reportedly stronger than plastic for the toughest, most durable folding phone yet.

The full-size unit folds just like one of those flip phones from the early 2000s, offering a tight, compact design that slides easily into your pocket.

Of course, it isn’t all about convenience with a smartphone. The Flip is almost sporting all the bells and whistles used expected from a Samsung flagship phone, including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ processor, 8GBs of RAM, 256GB of storage and a full camera array that will stand toe-to-toe with any other smartphone.

It’s a $1,380 value that you have a chance to own just by heading to the contest page and signing up. Just fill out the quickie form and you’re automatically placed in the drawing. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/04/enter-for-your-chance-to-win-a.html

My car tire had a dry-wall screw in it. I bought a cheap tire plug repair kit at the local Pep Boys for about $12. It was hard to use because I had to apply a lot of force to the plastic handle and it was painful. A month later I found another screw in my tire. I left the screw in until I ordered a heavy duty tire plug repair kit on Amazon. The all metal handles were a pleasure to use. Since then I've used it a couple more times and the tires have not started leaking again Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/04/i-like-this-tire-repair-kit-mu.html

Elle O'Brien says: "Created with the NVIDIA StyleGAN model; retrained with 7000 images of myself."

[via Bruce Sterling] Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/04/artist-creates-self-portrait-w.html

This imaginative aquarium and train fanatic aquascaped a railroad for fishies.

Very cool aquascaping, dude.

Railroad Less Travelled, by IMGURIAN @AquariumForADream.

Check out the entire photo gallery for gloriously detailed step-by-step photos that show how things are constructed and fixed in place.

Railroad Less Travelled

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/04/aquascape-railroad.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/04/california-reports-first-coron.html

CNN reports that the spread of the coronavirus has greatly reduced demand for oil, "as schools and offices close, airlines cancel flights worldwide and a growing number of people hunker down at home."

"This is a sudden, instant demand shock — and the scale of the decline is unprecedented," said Jim Burkhard, vice president and head of oil markets at IHS Markit.

The warning comes ahead of a critical meeting Thursday for OPEC members and allied producers in Vienna. The cartel, is under pressure to announce yet another round of coordinated production cuts, its preferred method of propping up prices.

Coronavirus fears have already driven oil into a bear market, with Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, trading at $52.65 per barrel, more than 23% below their recent peak in early January. US oil is trading at $48.22, nearly 24% below recent highs.

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/04/oil-consumption-just-fell-of.html