I wrote An Baile na mBan: a story of mothers, monsters, and war a few years ago for an anthology called Hidden Youth: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History. Originally published by Crossed Genres Publishing, the anthology focused on sci-fi/fantasy stories of adolescent protagonists from historically marginalized communities from before the 1920s. This story was loosely inspired by the tragic discovery of a mass grave at an Irish nunnery for single mothers, and thus involves pretty much all of the horrible things that might relate to that:

Set during the Irish War of Independence, An Baile na mBan tells the story of 16-year-old Caoimhe, a Traveller girl who has been paying off her debts to the Catholic Church by working at the nunnery that took her in while she was with child—and by stealing their supplies and selling them on streets. When one of her black market customers takes an interest in Aisling, the young Protestant girl who recently arrived at the home, he offers Caoimhe a chance to reunite with her daughter in exchange for a favor. But the club-footed man isn't all that he seems, and neither are his plans for Aisling's child. Or his stake in the war that rages through the land.

In case you aren't familiar with Travellers, they're a distinct ethnic group in Ireland, with their own language and culture that goes back hundreds of years. Unfortunately, they still deal with a lot of discrimination today, because the ladder of oppression is always ugly and complicated. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/15/a-free-short-story-about-irish.html

The great thing about living your best life is that it means something different to each individual. So while you may not need new socks or a fishing camera, other people are clamoring for it. To prove the point, we’ve assembled 25 of the best deals we were able to scrounge up this week. Some you’ll probably love. Others, you’ll never need. But while we all don’t covet the same things, we can all share a deep appreciation for a damn good deal.

The great outdoors

With spring almost here, time to consider what you’ll need for getting out and enjoying a quick weekend road trip or just going out for the day and basking in the glory of the land.

The STAG Ski, Bike & Base Unit Bundle ($494; originally $549) can cart all your equipment anywhere with a roof-positioned rack set for two 40-pound bikes and four snowboards or up to five pairs of skis.

And even the youngest family members can get in some pedal time too with the Brilrider FLIGHT: World's Lightest Balance Bike ($83.95; originally $159), a tough, durable and insanely light two-wheeler that can get kids even as young as 18 months up and riding.

With a minimalist look, a bunch of useful pockets and pouches and 100 percent weather-resistant, the VENQUE Explorer Bag ($169.99; originally $199) has enough room to stow just about everything as your A-1 travel companion. And if those adventures involve some angling, the GoFish Cam Wireless Underwater Fishing Camera ($239.99) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/15/from-your-home-to-the-road-to.html

Here’s a cool factoid about company branding and the importance of iconic imagery that you probably never considered. Brands that do a poor job of branding themselves to the public definitely pay the price. In fact, it’s a literal price...as in, salaries 10 percent higher than their better-branded competitors.

Not only does the lack of clear, effective brand identity hurt you with customers, but even prospective employers also end up being dubious that you’re a company that has the goods. So if your branding efforts are at all shaky, you can shore those up right now with a Designs.ai premium plan subscription.

As a Designs.ai user, you’ll have access to the full resources of their brand know-how as they craft a company logo for you that’s instantly identifiable and visually compelling. Enter some basic company information, offer a few of your preferences and Designs.ai swings into action, producing loads of potential logo ideas for you in a matter of seconds.

From there, Designs.ai’s simple interface makes it easy to start weeding through your options, finding the one you like, then making any color or stylistic tweaks or outright changes to get it looking exactly the way you want.

Once you’re locked down your decision, Designs.ai will export your logo into a full array of high resolution, fully scalable file formats so your new company image can be used in any medium, from print and digital to video and beyond. On top of that, a Designs.ai premium plan also entitles you to full mockups of how your new logo will look on a host of promotional merchandise, including everything from hats, jackets and the ever-popular t-shirts to pens, coffee mugs and more. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/14/designs-ai-can-give-your-compa.html

It was 1993. I was working on my book Media Virus, and about to return home to LA from San Francisco, when Timothy Leary called to ask if I could make room for a “friend in need” who needed a ride. That friend turned out to be Genesis P-Orridge.

I had known of Gen through his music and reputation alone, and was frankly a little afraid to meet him. If the “coyote” boys I knew in the Temple of Psychick Youth were modeling themselves after him, I could only imagine how fierce Gen might be. But when I pulled into the parking garage where we supposed to meet, and saw the diminutive Genesis P-Orridge standing there with his two gorgeous young daughters and all their suitcases, my perception of him changed entirely.

And over the next eight hours, so did my perception of world.

Gen had just been quasi-exiled from England after a video he had made for Channel 4 (in which he carried out a mock abortion and ate the fetus), went viral in the tabloids. While Gen was in Thailand, the authorities ransacked his place, seized his archives, and made it clear he was no longer welcome in the UK. So he flew to California instead, essentially homeless, and was feeling pretty out of sorts as we drove. As his two daughters fought in the back, he told me, “If only people realized I was also a regular dad with two kids fighting in the back seat.”

The rest may as well have been straight from the tweets of QAnon. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/14/douglas-rushkoff-on-genesis-br.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/14/trump-negative-for-coronavirus.html

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge -- the pioneering performance artist, musician, and occultist -- died this morning. S/he was 70-years-old. Gen's daughters Caresse and Genesse released the following statement:

Dear friends, family and loving supporters,

It is with very heavy hearts that we announce thee passing of our beloved father, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge.

S/he had been battling leukemia for two and a half years and dropped he/r body early this morning, Saturday March 14th, 2020.

S/he will be laid to rest with h/er other half, Jaqueline “Lady Jaye” Breyer who left us in 2007, where they will be re-united.

Thank you for your love and support and for respecting our privacy as we are grieving.

Caresse & Genesse P-Orridge

#s/heisher/eforever

Here's the New York Times obituary: "Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Musician, Artist and Provocateur, Dies at 70"

(Image: Seth Tissue, CC BY-SA 2.0, modified) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/14/genesis-breyer-p-orridge-thro.html

The top security risk to any company’s vital IT systems isn’t hackers or malware. It’s basic, pure and simple human error, according to CompTIA, the industry’s most respected trade association.

Even though 75 percent of companies have cybersecurity training for their employees, less than 45 percent say their staff has adequate security expertise. It’s just another reason why the IT pro entrusted with safeguarding all those systems is so vital.

CompTIA provides the security certification programs that drive the industry — and you can receive top-level training from premier instructors to pick up a virtual armload of those certifications with The CompTIA Cyber Security Pathway Certification Prep Bundle.

In all, this collection features in-depth training in the exact knowledge needed to pass seven different CompTIA security certification exams, an industry-standard accreditation that proves you’re fully versed and up to speed in all the disciplines that matter for an IT security expert.

Your training begins with courses in passing IT Fundamentals, then the CompTIA A+ Core 1 and Core 2 exams, the best starting point foundation for anyone with IT career aspirations. From there, the coursework veers solidly into the security realm, including certification prep in CompTIA Security+ covering risk management, identifying threats and how to spot system intrusions; and CompTIA Network+, with all the background needed to manage and secure a thriving business network.

Next, CompTIA PenTest+ explains ethical hacking and testing for system vulnerabilities; then CompTIA CySA+ looks at security analytics and how exactly to respond to a cyber incident. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/14/become-a-comptia-approved-it-s.html

I picture this blonde raccoon with a languid, slightly inebriated voice demanding  and promptly receiving  more cherries. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/14/raccoon-enjoys-snack.html

A group has been formed on Facebook to help facilitate the open-source development of medical hardware (such as ventilators, filter masks, non-contact door openers, etc) to help fight the global coronavirus pandemic.

Here's the statement on their page:

COVID19 is currently spreading exponentially, in a mostly unchecked fashion, throughout the world. Infection doubling rates are as high as 2-3 days. Under simplistic models, such unchecked growth means the disease infects most of the world in months. Current statistics indicate that 15-20% of people who get it require hospitalization for respiratory failure for multiple weeks, and often need intense healthcare from medical professionals who are at severe risk treating these highly infectious patients. If infections proceed at their current pace across the globe, we will not have enough supplies like ventilators, respirators, PPE, etc. to meet demand.

This group is being formed to evaluate, design, validate, and source the fabrication of open source emergency medical supplies around the world, given a variety of local supply conditions.

This is an example of the sorts of projects being shared and discussed there:

And this, a 3D printable device for opening door handles without touching them.

Here is the link if you have something to contribute and want to join.

[H/t Goli Mohammadi]

Image: YouTube screengrab Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/14/fb-group-forms-to-open-source.html

Jonathan Frakes, the actor and director associated most strongly with his Star Trek role as bearded lothario William Riker, has many other feathers in his cap. Here he poses some important questions to consider in the twilight of the American republic. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/14/jonathan-frakes-asking-importa.html

Or is it "listen the world burn by"?

Either way, some folks are taking their unexpected isolation time at home to make coronavirus-specific playlists. Here are the ones I'm aware of, thanks to in-the-know pals:

album/song images via Google search Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/14/pandemic-playlists-to-watch-th.html

Careers in IT are diverse and varied, but one of the most important is one you may not have ever considered — just how do all those networks and systems and devices get all that power, anyway? The work of a smart, knowledgeable electrical power engineer is how.

Armed with the training in The Introductory Electrical Master Class Bundle, students will not only have a better idea about how all of our information systems stay juiced up but how electrical distribution works across buildings, cities and even countries as well as how the impact of new power technologies like solar energy can be applied everywhere.

Complete Electric Circuits Course for Electrical Engineering starts at the absolute ground level for beginners, walking learners through the basics of electrical circuits, critical theorems, capacitors, inductors and all the crucial background knowledge any electrical specialist needs before current ever starts flowing.

The Complete Electrical Substations for Electrical Engineering course expands that vision, outlining how power is distributed through area substations and all the components that make it happen from circuit breakers and grounding systems to transmission lines and main units.

The Complete Electrical Design Engineering Distribution Course starts applying those principles on a broader level, explaining how electrical engineers work out a building’s lighting scheme from wiring to regulating to fixtures. You’ll even use design and drafting software like Autocad and Dialux to start creating digital environments that will be ready to work in the real world.

Of course, some structures need more power than others and the electrical requirements for an industrially-heavy machine shop are far different than an average business. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/14/learn-about-electrical-circuit.html

Creative writing can be a nerve-racking endeavor. It’s just you, your thoughts and that very, very blank page or word doc. You might have an idea for the story you want to tell, but what form does that story take? A novel? A short story? An article? Maybe even a blog post?

Writing your story isn’t as simple as simply writing your story. However, you can start answering those tough questions and steering your creative output in the right direction with the truly massive Ultimate Creative Writing Course Bundle.

It’s a 10-course package that includes an almost ridiculously giant 1,500 hours of hands-on training. Yeah, 1,500. That’s over 62 days worth of materials aimed at making you a better writer. Of course, we don’t advise taking it all at once (you’d be mighty tired by the end!), but it’s nice to know how much quality instruction is available to devour at your own pace.

After you explore the mindset of professional writers and test yourself out in a variety of creative projects with the introductory Creative Writing course, then you can start digging into a whole universe of writing sub-genres.

If you want to write the next Great American Novel, Novel Writing can help you shape plotlines, characters, scenarios and more. If you’re more interested in telling real-world stories, you can flex those muscles and find out what makes for a solid news story with the Freelance Journalism course. Or if you’ve ever had dreams of writing about life on the road, there are a pair of Travel Writing and Travel Blogging courses that can light the way for that pursuit. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/13/this-creative-writing-training.html

Televangelist Kenneth Copeland urges you to put your hand on that television set and he, or rather Jesus, will cure you of COVID-19. Amen. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/13/watch-this-preacher-cure-coron.html

In this 1910 film, a housefly perched (glued?) on a matchstick, demonstrates fantastic feats of insect strength and agility. From the British Film Institute:

This truly delightful (or singularly repellent) film is the work of Percy Smith, pioneer of a particularly engaging early form of natural filmmaking. 'The Acrobatic Fly' is one of a series of Smith films on similar subjects around this time, and near identical to, though briefer than, a sequence in his 1911 release 'The Strength and Agility of Insects', which also features similarly impressive accomplishments by a scorpion, a flea, a grasshopper and a praying mantis. Viewers might worry about the techniques used to secure such performances, but Smith always insisted that his stars were none the worse for their moment in the spotlight.

Learn more about Percy Smith at the British Film Institute's Screenonline site.

(via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/13/watch-this-housefly-do-amazing.html

If you shoot videos for your business or just for fun, it’s practically inevitable that you’ll eventually start wanting to up the production values. For most vlog style videos, it’s not like you need Star Wars-level special effects or anything. But even trying to change out your background digitally with a simple green-screen effect requires extra space, precise lighting and...yeah, a really big green screen.

Instead, XSplit VCam has packed in green screen capabilities and other simple effects to instantly up the quality of your videos with their easy to use app.

And we definitely mean easy to use. Just choose your camera source, pick one of the assorted possible backgrounds, and in seconds, your video is transported to any locale with a professional-grade appearance that can often look seamless to the untrained eye.

XSplit VCam also gives you loads of options for getting that background just so. You can insert a GIF, JPEG, a website or even a YouTube video as your background, so your video can take on virtually any feel you want to project. Or if you like the look of your current cam shot, but maybe would like to hide some of the clutter and mess going on in your office or living space, you can add a subtle blur effect to give your video the look of a DSLR style portrait effect that draws viewer attention to you and not your background.

No matter whether you’re recording videos or live streaming, XSplit VCam is compatible with a full assortment of services like Open Broadcaster Software (OBS), Steamlabs, and XSplit Broadcaster. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/13/xsplit-vcam-is-the-simple-solu.html

In December of 2019, Ahmet Zappa and longtime Zappa “vaultmeister” Joe Travers released a 6-CD collection of the Hot Rats Sessions to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this ground-breaking, now classic Frank Zappa solo record. This LA Times piece chronicles the enduring impact of this recording and how it inspired the entire genre of jazz-rock fusion.

Long before novelty hits like “Valley Girl” and his televised jousting with the would-be music censors of Tipper Gore and the Parents Resource Music Center, Zappa was already a musical force to be reckoned with. “Freak Out!,” his 1966 doo-wop-meets-dada-rock debut with the Mothers of Invention, was cited by Paul McCartney as inspiration for “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Zappa repaid the compliment in 1968 with “We’re Only In It for the Money,” which pilloried “Sgt. Pepper’s” with its cover and all things Summer of Love with its music.

“Hot Rats,” however, was completely different. Raw yet refined, accessible yet sophisticated, “Hot Rats” introduced what would come to be known as jazz-rock fusion, but with the added allure of Zappa’s intriguingly idiosyncratic take on classical music. Its beautifully layered textures were the result of previous experiments with variable-speed recording. For all its organic innovation, though, it was both a critical and commercial failure, topping out at No. 173 on the Billboard album chart. It did well in Europe, however, and eventually became one of the Zappa catalog’s most consistent sellers.

Listening to Hot Rats today, you have to remind yourself that this was 19-freakin'-69. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/13/fifty-years-of-zappas-hot.html

In February 2002, Yoko Ono took the stage with the B-52's during a New York performance of "Rock Lobster." The story about how she got there is fascinating and I'm surprised this is the first time I'm hearing of it. It begins in June 1980 when John Lennon heard the song and was inspired to start making music again after a long creative lull. The song's unusual backing vocals reminded him of Yoko Ono's style.

John Lennon, in a 1980 Rolling Stone interview:

"I was at a dance club one night in Bermuda... Upstairs, they were playing disco, and downstairs, I suddenly heard 'Rock Lobster' by the B-52's for the first time. Do you know it? It sounds just like Yoko's music, so I said to meself, 'It's time to get out the old axe and wake the wife up!' We wrote about twenty-five songs during those three weeks, and we've recorded enough for another album."

Writer Brian Scott MacKenzie:

"Rock Lobster" lit a fuse of inspiration that flared into Lennon’s 2-LP set Double Fantasy (1980), plus a posthumous release, Milk and Honey (1984). Without the B-52's, our world might lack "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)," "Watching the Wheels," "Woman," "(Just Like) Starting Over," and "Nobody Told Me."

Atlanta Magazine (2013):

"I said, 'That’s Yoko!,'" Lennon recalled that fall in an interview with the BBC. "I thought there were two records going at once or something. Because it was so her. I mean, this person had studied her... I called her and I said, 'You won’t believe this, but I was in a disco and there was somebody doing your voice.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/13/why-yoko-ono-once-performed-ba.html

This is a java sparrow that's learned to ride a tiny skateboard.

Image: YouTube Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/13/and-now-a-skateboarding-sparr.html

Philip Roth's 2004 alternate history novel about a Charles Lindbergh -ed Nazi takeover of the United States, The Plot Against America, has been adapted as a 6-part HBO miniseries. Created by David Simon and Ed Burns (the duo behind The Wire), it debuts on Monday, March 16, 2020 and stars Winona Ryder and John Turturro.

BBC has a review, giving it 3 out of 5 stars. Conclusion: "The Plot Against America has high, half-realised ambitions. Preaching to its audience didn’t have to be one of them." I'm going to watch it anyway. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/13/watch-the-trailer-for-hbos.html