Dealing with all the COVID-19 fallout is one of the new realities of our ever-changing world — and that isn’t likely going away anytime soon. It’s also prompted a rash of existential questions for parents. Questions like how do I protect my kids? Or how do I soothe their fears?

And there’s also one of the most nerve-racking questions: How do I suddenly become an experienced elementary school teacher and actually try to homeschool these mini-terrorists I created while schools are shut down and our lives are in chaos?

Great question. If you’d like to follow the advice of one University of Connecticut professor, don’t try. We think that might be a short-sighted view. Instead, turn your home captivity into an opportunity to expand their minds organically.

Any of the DIY projects below will engage your minds, activate their problem-solving skills and super-subtly encourage a career in a lucrative STEM career so they can afford to take care of you when you’re old in style. In the short term, each should also take them hours to accomplish. Enjoy the silence.

Get ‘em started on the basics

Any curriculum starts with the basics, so if you want to get them started, you need the right introductory materials. It doesn’t get more foundational than understanding elementary circuitry, and the Circuit Scribe: DIY Circuit Kits ($32.99; originally $58.99) can kickstart their interest. Using regular paper and a steel sheet, kids will take the reins to fashion their own lights, buzzers, motors and other base-level electronics projects. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/28/are-you-cut-out-to-be-a-covid.html

Osprey Games has made the PDF version of their popular game, Frostgrave, free in a gesture of support for self-isolating gamers who might be interested in the award-winning skirmish-level fantasy miniatures game.

Frostgrave is normally a two-player game of wizards and their warbands duking it out over treasure and other spoils in the ruins of the frozen city of Frostgrave. But there have been some solo adventures in the Dark Alchemy supplement and the recent Perilous Dark supplement. As part of their shut-in bundle, Osprey is also giving away Dark Alchemy for free, along with the three solo scenarios from Perilous Dark. You use the code FGV2020 on check-out to get the free deal.

Frostgrave is one of my favorite tabletop miniature games and I can't say enough good things about it. I've never played solo, but I became tempted when Perilous Dark was released. Now that we're all trapped in our wizard's towers, under siege from tiny, glowing invisible monsters, it seems like a good time to give solo Frostgrave a roll. I've got an Explosive Rune spell with "COVID-19" written all over it.

Here's a bit more about the free PDF deal from Frostgrave's creator, Joseph McCullough.

Image: Cover art for Frostgrave: The Wizard's Conclave Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/28/the-fantastic-fantasy-miniatur.html

If you're already incredibly bored in your social distancing situation, now is a great time to pick up a hobby. Actually, now's a great time to pick up multiple hobbies, and nothing will make that easier (or nicer to look at) than this very cool AquaSprouts® Fountain: Aquaponics Water Garden.

What the heck is an "aquaponics water garden"? Well, we'll tell you. By combining fishkeeping and hydroponic gardening, aquaponics does things that neither can do alone, dramatically reducing waste (saves up to 90% of the water usually needed!) and maintenance of both the plant care and fish care side of things. Aquaponics recycles fish waste to provide vital nutrients for growing plants, leaving the water clean and clear without the need for additional filters or frequent water changes.

That's one of the highest-tech low-tech innovations we've ever seen, and AquaSprouts (4 stars on Amazon and a top 2020 aquaponic aquarium brand on FishkeepingForever.com) brings it to you in a stunning fountain design that you can display indoors or out, all year long. In addition, it can be used as a hydroponic system or a simple water garden as well. Grow a variety of flowers, herbs, and veggies to enjoy at home and add some fish friends to talk to during your self-quarantine (who are we to judge?).

Even if your track record with plants and/or animals is ... less than perfect, you're golden with AquaSprouts. There's no daily watering, fertilizing, weeding, or green thumb required. And, unlike traditional aquariums and water gardens, once it's up and running, the AquaSprouts requires minimal water changes and no filters or fertilizers. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/27/transform-your-home-office-wit.html

Olivia Wood is a video game writer, narrative designer, and editor, specializing in interactive narrative. She works for Failbetter Games in London, UK. Her credits include Sunless Skies (writer, narrative designer and editor), Sunless Sea: Zubmariner (writer, narrative designer and editor), Sunless Sea (writer and editor), Fallen London (writer, narrative designer and editor), Where the Water Tastes Like Wine (contributing writer), The Mystery of Kalkomey Isle (design consultant and editor), Cheaper than Therapy (writer, designer and developer), and Lethophobia (writer and designer). She first worked in the video game industry at the age of 18 as a quality assurance technician for games including Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and Timesplitters 2.  Her work in writing and editing (narrative) in the video game industry was recognised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2017. She strives to share her knowledge of video game writing, narrative design and interactive narrative through giving talks and interviews and also via narrative consultancy and writing services.

This interview features conversation about her favorite adventure games, narrative, and writing.

Jeffery Klaehn: What about adventure games most interests you, as a writer and also as a player?

Olivia Wood: There's been a history of puzzles in adventure games feeling at odds with the narrative. I actually don't love calling them 'puzzles' in this context. Puzzles to me are more about something with its own set of internal constraints and rules that gets progressively complicated and iterated upon. I prefer to think of what are traditionally called 'puzzles' in adventure games as 'problems.'  Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/27/talking-adventure-games-with-o.html

Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room--The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away is now available to view online through The Broad Museum's Instagram feed.

Take an opportunity to delve into the spiritual aspects of Kusama's exploration of eternity—paired with aural selections curated by The Broad, including drone, electronic, ambient, and pop music. Featuring deep cuts by celebrated musicians and sound artists from Los Angeles and beyond, the Infinite Drone series presents a new, contemplative way of experiencing The Broad’s most popular artwork.

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Experience an immersive environment of light and sound in the spirit of Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room—The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away. Take an opportunity to delve into the spiritual aspects of Kusama's exploration of eternity—paired with aural selections chosen curated by The Broad, including drone, electronic, ambient, and pop music. Featuring deep cuts by celebrated musicians and sound artists from Los Angeles and beyond, the Infinite Drone series presents a new, contemplative way of experiencing The Broad’s most popular artwork. Today’s musical artist is: Geneva Skeen The Oval Window (2018) Los Angeles-based artist and composer Geneva Skeen (@geneeves) is influenced by 'ecriture f'eminine, alchemical metaphors, and a range of musical traditions ranging from holy mysticism to industrial. She works with recordings, digital presets, voice, and mixed instrumentation. Her performances, publications, and installations focus on the contrast between facing the finite resources of our physical landscapes and their infinite digital representations. She is a recipient of the Touch Mentorship program and a member of VOLUME, a curatorial collective focused on sound-based practices.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/27/yayoi-kusamas-infinity-mirro.html

I don't know why I made this. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/27/tossed-dallas.html

Politico asked 34 "macro thinkers" to share some of their thoughts on what the world will look like after we crawl from the wreckage of this thing. Some are hopeful, optimistic. Some, not so much. Definitely good food for thought. Here are a few excerpts.

Mark Lawrence Schrad is an associate professor of political science and author of the forthcoming Smashing the Liquor Machine: A Global History of Prohibition.

A new kind of patriotism When all is said and done, perhaps we will recognize their sacrifice as true patriotism, saluting our doctors and nurses, genuflecting and saying, “Thank you for your service,” as we now do for military veterans. We will give them guaranteed health benefits and corporate discounts, and build statues and have holidays for this new class of people who sacrifice their health and their lives for ours. Perhaps, too, we will finally start to understand patriotism more as cultivating the health and life of your community, rather than blowing up someone else’s community. Maybe the de-militarization of American patriotism and love of community will be one of the benefits to come out of this whole awful mess.

Eric Klinenberg is professor of sociology and director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University. He is the author, most recently, of Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life.

Less individualism The coronavirus pandemic marks the end of our romance with market society and hyper-individualism. We could turn toward authoritarianism.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/27/politico-asked-34-big-thinkers.html

This little ditty from Devotchka's 2018 album This Night Falls Forever, is both beautiful AND timely. The masks. The coming storm. the promise to be there for one another.

Love it.

Image: YouTube Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/27/shut-in-sounds-devotchka-do.html

Many Americans are facing unexpected changes in their professional lives that have left them with quite a bit of downtime. It's stressful and frustrating, but the best thing to do is focus on controlling what you can control. If you have extra hours on your hands, you can be productive with them. Use them to invest in yourself by learning a new in-demand skill set or improving upon the one you're already familiar with.

It's easy to do that at your own pace, from the comfort of home, with Integrity Training: Online Workforce Courses. Offering proven on-demand training for corporate, government, and education employees, Integrity membership gives you lifetime access to all 600+ current courses with completion certificates covering a wide variety of topics, including IT certification, project management, business, and soft skills, sales and marketing, design, big data, programming languages, blockchain development, and more.

Across all subject matter, you'll learn from field experts with 15+ years of experience and multiple certifications from Microsoft, CompTIA, PMI, ITIL, Cisco, VMware, Mile 2, and more. You can access online courses 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from pretty much any device, plus you'll receive certified content, unlimited graded practice exams, and completion certificates.

With good reviews—like this one from HR director Molly Tompkins: "The sheer number of courses available at this price is incredible. The courses are high quality and well worth the money."— and an affordable price, you can be sure you're getting a great value.

By keeping your mind sharp and continuing to advance your skillset, you'll become more marketable than you were before and that could give you a big boost when it comes to job hunting or applying for a promotion. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/27/keep-your-mind-sharp-and-your.html

On Friday, Disney announced that Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort will remain closed until further notice.

Previously, the parks and resorts were to be temporarily closed only until April 18, 2020.

[via @frankpallotta] Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/27/coronavirus-disneyland-resort.html

"[Trump is] so attentive to the scientific literature & the details & the data. I think his ability to analyze & integrate data that comes out of his long history in business has really been a real benefit.”

Bizarre words from Deborah L. Birx, M.D.

She assists the Office of the Vice President Mike Pence in the Trump regime's response to COVID-19 as the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator.

Watch and cringe.

"[Trump is] so attentive to the scientific literature & the details & the data. I think his ability to analyze & integrate data that comes out of his long history in business has really been a real benefit” -- this is shocking, hackish stuff from Dr. Birx. pic.twitter.com/c2phsRYaJs

 Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 27, 2020

Are we in North Korea? Moscow?

What is even going on?

As Aaron Rupar said, this is “shocking, hackish stuff from Dr. Birx.”

Christ, what a suckup. What is going on, America. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/27/watch-white-house-coronavirus.html

This right here is some seriously weird data from Nielsen today, about the sorts of things Americans have been purchasing as the coronavirus outbreak, and corresponding fear, spread.

As CNN Business's Nathaniel Meyersohn observed, the latest Nielsen sales data for week ending 3/21 is “insane.”

• Spiral hams: +622.1% from same time last year • Baking yeast: +647.3 • Oat milk: +513.1% • Shelf-stable tuna: +245.6%

Why did I not think to purchase a spiral ham.

I have everything else on the list, not oat milk, but shelf-stable milks.

I don't have a spiral ham.

I am regret.

Latest @nielsen sales data for week ending 3/21 is here and boy is it insane.

Spiral hams: +622.1% from same time last yearBaking yeast: +647.3Oat milk: +513.1%Shelf-stable tuna: +245.6%

 Nathaniel Meyersohn (@nmeyersohn) March 27, 2020

Related reporting on Nielsen data: Panic Buying Triggers 23% Growth in Retail Sales Says Nielsen Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/27/americans-are-coronavirus-pani.html

“They are putting us directly in harm’s way while profiting greatly. We cannot let this be considered normal.”

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/27/instacart-strike-coronavirus.html

Apple and the CDC have released this app to help you self-diagnose in the event you are wondering if you have COVID19.

I think most of the world imagines every tickle in their throat as the beginning of the end.

COVID19 Screening tool for IOS Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/27/apple-and-the-cdcs-covid19-s.html

To do far less than my part in helping families in quarantine/home isolation, I'm offering a FREE download of the first book in my book series for kids, The EMU Club Adventures: Alien Invasion in My Backyard, for anyone who wants it.

Free. No charge.

Info for downloading the pdf of the book is at THIS LINK.

The book was first released in 2015, and here are a few endorsements:

"Ruben Bolling is one of my cartooning heroes, and The EMU Club Adventures is seriously, mysteriously funny!" - Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid

"There's no mystery—the EMU Club is a hit! This is a fun, funny adventure that kids will love to read." —Lincoln Peirce, Big Nate

"The EMU Club inhabits exactly the world I always hoped to live in when I was 12, when the answer to questions like 'Where did I put my toy' led inevitably to alien conspiracies and secret underground tunnels. A book for the curious and adventurous!" - Cory Doctorow

I hope your kids have some fun with it. Maybe you will too.

In a week, I'm going to provide a link to download the second book in the series, Ghostly Thief of Time. Also for free. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/27/free-book-for-kids-the-emu-cl.html

The LEGO Mandalorian Battle Pack comes with 4 Mandalorian shock trooper minifigs!

The speeder bike is cool, but 4 Mando minifigs for this price is a steal.

LEGO Star Wars Mandalorian Battle Pack 75267 Mandalorian Shock Troopers and Speeder Bike Building Kit; Great Gift Idea for Any Fan of Star Wars: The Mandalorian TV Series, New 2020 (102 Pieces) via Amazon Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/27/the-new-lego-star-wars-mandalo.html

This might be the same compilation of British Drivers Swearing that Mark posted in 2016, but that video was copyright-striked by "Bad Drivers of Northamptonshire" so it's impossible to know for sure. In any case, it seems unlikely that there is only one compilation of British Drivers Swearing in existence. So enjoy it, you shitting Peugeot. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/27/british-drivers-swearing.html

10 years ago we decluttered our garage and Carla bought several Gorilla Rack shelving units from Amazon. They are awesome. I've assembled shelving units before, and they required either nuts and bolts or little brackets, but the Gorilla Rack units have parts that fit together without extra hardware. I built the first shelving unit in about 30 minutes. The second one took me 15 minutes, and the third one was done in 10 minutes. The pieces fit together without any fussing and the unit is free of sharp edges. It's very sturdy, too. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/27/gorilla-rack-shelvin.html

Forbes senior contributor, TJ McCue, has been keeping an updated list of various corporate and maker/makerspace initiatives to 3D print filter masks and face shields for healthcare workers.

As I said in my earlier posts, there is a rallying cry, a peaceful, but intense call to arms, if you will. People all over the world are seeing that many of our biggest players are struggling or faltering and they are stepping in to fill the breach. This is not insignificant, but also this is not unprecedented in the 3D printing world. This is actually the norm for makers and hackers (the good kind); they are helpful and immensely generous, especially in the face of true need. I have written about this industry and its players for many years and I am always moved to tears of joy by the people and organizations who stand up for others and deliver to help solve a problem that 3D printing is uniquely able to solve. I want to tell you about a few of them during the challenging times we face in the Coronavirus.

Read the whole piece and see the initiatives TJ has collected to date.

Image: Face shield design from Prusa Research Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/27/updated-listing-of-initiatives.html

Enjoy the microscopy in this video ab0ut adorable tardigrades (aka water bears or moss piglets). One cool fact about these hardy 500 micron critters: each of their eyes is a single photoreceptive cell.

Image: YouTube Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/03/27/fascinating-video-about-tardig.html