Starting at $9k and configurable up to $17k or thereabouts, the Dwellito Mini Office is an 8ft square "quiet place to work" (i.e. a shed) that will be delivered to your door. An extension cord is $31 extra, and they'll even include this Dyson fan [Amazon] for another $600.

A Mini-Office, Delivered to Your Door

Give yourself a quiet place to work with a mini office next to your home. In 6 to 8 weeks, you could have a pre-built office delivered to your front door, starting at $9,000.

A lot of smart people have no idea how much things cost.

For those able to, it's a perfect time to learn how to build a shesorry, a Mini Office: the big box hardware stores are still open, they all sell framing lumber, OSB and plywood sheets, roofing materials and even those big old ultramodern windows and doors, and they'll even rent you a pickup to take it all home for another $30 plus mileage. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/10/buy-a-17k-shed-to-work-in.html

Even once stay-at-home orders are lifted, it’s likely many of us will be sticking closer to home, at least for a while. And rather than taking the car out of the garage for a 10-minute-or-less drive to the grocery store or the pharmacy, don’t be shocked if you start seeing a lot more short jaunt scooters and electric bikes start springing up around a community near you.

The trend toward ecologically responsible, quick hop transportation has been building well before coronavirus. That move figures only to expand as many city dwellers start looking for an alternative to the cramped quarters of most public transit.

The Jetson Bolt Compact Electric Bike ($399.99; originally $499.99) can get you out ahead of the curve now. A compact electric scooter with a powerful 250-watt hub motor and a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, the Bolt can zip you along at about 15 mph for a range of up to 15 miles. If it normally takes about half an hour to walk down to the supermarket, the Bolt can put you at their front door in a breezy 8 minutes or so.

The Bolt sports a twist throttle, an LED headlight for evening travel and front and rear disc brakes on the 12-inch tires. In addition to cutting your carbon footprint down to nil, the Bolt also folds conveniently with a collapsible handlebar to move and store easily once you reach your destination. It’s even got a built-in carrying handle to just scoop up your 34-pound baby and tote it into a garage, closet or wherever as you carry out your business. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/10/theyre-cool-theyre-gree.html

If your sleep has been somewhat troubled recently, you’ve got plenty of company. With so much uncertainty, millions of people everywhere are laying in their beds, wrestling with huge life problems while unsuccessfully trying to also get eight hours of rest...or six...or heck, even 30 minutes.

If that hits a little close to home, you may want to look into the app that developers say can actually put people to sleep in only two minutes. That’s a bold claim, but the folks behind the Restly Sleep app have some serious pedigree on their side to back those claims up.

In fact, this Product Hunt #1 Product of the Day honoree is scientifically based on secret military tactics endorsed by the U.S. Army and field-tested by American pilots.

The app combines male and female voices with different calming sounds that serve as a soothing background soundtrack to help put you to sleep faster. The process is aimed at relaxing both your body and mind and can be customized to help find the relaxation option that works best for you. The sleep timer even dutifully shuts the sounds down when the cycle is finished..of course, it’s well after the two-minute window, so you should be fast asleep by then.

Restly also comes with a smart alarm clock feature that calculates when you should go to bed and wake up based on your sleep cycle. By following those guidelines, Restly says you stand the best chance of waking up refreshed and energetic every morning. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/09/if-youd-like-to-be-asleep-w.html

Aphex Twin will be streaming his 2019 Warehouse Project live show tomorrow (Friday, April 10), complete with interactive visuals and editing from regular collaborator Weirdcore.

The set will be broadcast on Warehouse Project’s YouTube page and on Facebook starting at 1 pm (EST) tomorrow (6pm BST).

Image: Promo shot Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/09/aphex-twin-will-be-streaming-h.html

My friend Richard Gould introduced me to Bichopalo, a musical instrument sculptor from Valenciana, Spain.

One word: Enchanting. Two words: Pico and Verdi, his two pet birds who star in his creations. I needed this today.

View this post on Instagram

Let me introduce you “THE PLANTYFLUTESIZER”. . . Still in progress, I can’t really tell how many hours, days and months I've spent working on this. The entire structure is a combination of different instruments but the main one is a sort of sequencer with 8 notes limit that can be combinated on different patterns. An electric impulse actives a motor with an arm connected that hits a sensor running a pre-recorded note. There’s a lot to speak about this but on this particular post the real rockstars are my little partners: Pico and Verdi. This two little fellas have been with me from a while, making me laught and giving me incredible presents every single day. It’s incredible how these little creatures can emit such an intense light. If you have pets you know what I mean. They are family, pure unconditional love, no matter what, specially these weird days of quarantine is needed more than ever. . . #synth #synthesizers #modularsynth #eurorack #modular #soundsystem #soundart #soundsculpture #soundscapes #experimental #sound #music #soundsculptures #surrealism #plants #nature #volcakeys #korg #ambientmusic #electronicmusic #electronicmusicproducer #loopmusic #installationart #installationartist #arduino #axoloti

A post shared by Bichopalo (@_bichopalo_) on Apr 6, 2020 at 12:33pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

“Invisible forces” new percussive-aquatic experiment. Check out the full version on my IGTV channel to discover the he rest of the instruments and esoteric tools.

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/09/the-coolest-thing-youll-see.html

All the Disney Parks are closed* but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy two of their most famous flavors: the Dole Whip and churros.

Last Sunday, the Disney Parks Blog shared the recipe for Churro Tots, which is based on their in-park, cinnamon-y snack:

Crazy fact: Over 5.5 million churros were sold at Disney Parks each year. Not this year but, you know.

And, via the Disneyland app, they shared how to make an at-home version of their super-popular tropical treat, the Dole Whip. Full recipe here.

*And expect mandatory temperature checks when they re-open.

photo via Disney Parks Blog, screengrab via Disneyland app

(Deseret News) Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/09/disney-shares-recipes-for-diy.html

Two days ago, we lost a musical mastermind whose name few people outside of the music business may know: Hal Willner. Willner was a musical producer on Saturday Night Live in the 1980s and also produced records for Marianne Faithfull, Lou Reed, Bill Frisell, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Laurie Anderson, and others.

I fell in love with the quirky brilliance of Hal Willner in the late 1980s through the Lorne Michaels' program, Night Music (originally called Sunday Night). Hosted by Jools Holland and David Sanborn, this weekly music variety show immediately stole my heart (and that of many other music nerds) with its laid back, Devil may care style, its eccentric and staggeringly broad line-up of performers, and the epic jams that ended the shows.

Brooklyn Vegan has put together a round-up of 33 of the most epic Night Music episodes and performances. They write:

Having John Zorn, Marianne Faithfull and Aaron Neville in the same hour. Just to have all those emotions make sense together.”

John Zorn, Marianne Faithfull and Aaron Neville was an actual episode, by the way. Sonic Youth made their national television debut on Night Music — on an episode that also featured Diamanda Galas, the Indigo Girls, Daniel Lanois and Evan Lurie and Marc Ribot (covering The Stooges) — and so did Pixies who were on a S2 episode that also featured Sun Ra, singer-songwriter Syd Straw and dance music producer Arthur Baker.

More: Eric Clapton jammed alongside fellow bluesman Robert Cray and Twin Peaks chanteuse Julee Cruise.

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/09/celebrating-the-mad-genius-of.html

A new data project from the Washington Post allows you to see how the availability of intensive care beds and mechanical ventilators at your local hospital compares to that of other regions across the country.

Look up your zip code or that of your parents or grandparents: How a surge of coronavirus patients could stretch hospital resources in your area

Analyzing the critical care resources in this country is a frustrating exercise, as experts like Jeremy Kahn of the Univ. of Pittsburgh will tell you. The most reliable data is years old, and reporting standards vary from state to state.

 Amy Brittain (@AmyJBrittain) April 9, 2020

As he told me, FedEx can tell you where any package is in the United States at any given moment. But the nation's leading researchers on critical care resources can only give you reliable numbers on ICU beds *from 2017*

 Amy Brittain (@AmyJBrittain) April 9, 2020

Other experts- like Retsef Levi's of @MITSloan COVID-19 Policy Alliance, sum it the data limitations with a wartime metaphor: “We need to know where our weapons are. We need to coordinate all of that. This is a war.”

 Amy Brittain (@AmyJBrittain) April 9, 2020

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/09/how-do-your-local-hospitals.html

Uber today announced that it will provide millions of face masks against coronavirus for people who work as drivers or food delivery workers around the world, and that it has begun providing gloves and face masks for its workers in New York City.

Uber earlier this month said it would begin shipping disinfecting car spray at no cost to its drivers in the United States.

The virus that causes COVID-19 has infected 1.4 million people and killed 85,000 worldwide, with U.S. deaths at 15,700 on Thursday, according to Reuters:

The ride-hailing company’s vice president of safety and insurance, Gus Fuldner, in a company blog post also said Uber plans to ship nearly half a million face masks to U.S. drivers located in the cities hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak.

The initial face mask order will come from a Chinese company that typically manufactures electronics and now produces ear-loop masks. But Uber will be sourcing face masks from all over the world as a long-term commitment, an Uber spokesman said.

Uber said it had shipped its first order of masks to drivers in New York City, the U.S. city with the highest number of infections of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus.

“We’ve ordered tens of millions more masks and expect them to arrive in other cities and regions around the world in the coming weeks,” the company’s blog post said, adding that supplies were limited with healthcare needs taking a priority.

Read more: Uber to give drivers millions of face masks to battle coronavirus

[Tina Bellon, reuters.com] Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/09/uber-to-provide-millions-o.html

Preliminary data released today on the coronavirus outbreak in New York City shows that black and Latino people in the city are dying at twice the rate of white people who contract the virus.

“Officials revealed that disparity on Wednesday as they announced that 779 more people in the state had died of the virus, the second straight day that deaths spiked to new highs.”

Read more at the New York Times.

The preliminary coronavirus death rate is highest for Hispanic people in New York City: nearly 23 people per 100,000. The rates are adjusted for the size and age of the population. pic.twitter.com/gzuyZom2O3

 NYT Graphics (@nytgraphics) April 9, 2020

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the disparity in coronavirus death rates in New York City reflected longstanding and persistent economic inequalities and differences in access to health care. pic.twitter.com/hv9GTCoeH1

 NYT Graphics (@nytgraphics) April 9, 2020

The data also shows that people of color and those in New York City's poorest neighborhoods reside at the core of its outbreak, which is the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. pic.twitter.com/tKOBoTIj7j

 NYT Graphics (@nytgraphics) April 9, 2020

“We are watching, in real time, racial disparities and the pandemic of poverty,” said Michael Blake, an assemblyman from the Bronx whose district overlaps with one of the poorest congressional districts in the country. https://t.co/fElHJFNlvx

 NYT Graphics (@nytgraphics) April 9, 2020

more: Virus Is Twice as Deadly for Black and Latino People Than Whites in N.Y.C. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/09/black-and-latino-new-yorkers-a.html

CNN reports that Vice President Mike Pence's office says it will ban top health officials from appearing on CNN to discuss the novel coronavirus unless the network carries the White House's 2+ hour daily disinformation briefings in full.

"When you guys cover the briefings with the health officials then you can expect them back on your air," a Pence spokesperson told CNN.

From CNN's Oliver Darcy:

Pence's office, which is responsible for booking the officials on networks during the pandemic, said it will only allow experts such as Dr. Deborah Birx or Dr. Anthony Fauci to appear on CNN if the network televises the portion of the White House briefings that includes the vice president and other coronavirus task force members.

CNN often only broadcasts President Donald Trump's question and answer session, which sometimes includes the health care officials, live on-air.

After Trump leaves the podium, CNN frequently cuts out of the White House briefing to discuss and fact-check what the President had said. A CNN executive said that the network usually returns to such programming because of the extensive length of the full briefing that includes Pence, which can run in excess of two hours.

CNN did, however, air the vice president's portion of the briefing Wednesday night. Regardless, Pence's office has declined to make the nation's top health care officials available to CNN for the last seven days.

(...) Fauci, Birx, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn and Surgeon General Jerome Adams have all appeared on NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox during the last week, despite the fact that the broadcast networks have generally not covered the briefings that have included the vice president and health officials.

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/09/pence-wont-let-public-health.html

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, has been placed in solitary confinement at a federal prison in New York state over what Reuters reports was “a verbal dispute over phone use.”

Cohen, who is 53, is U.S. President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney and is serving time for violating campaign finance laws.

On Wednesday, Cohen was transferred to a Special Housing Unit (SHU) at Otisville Federal Correctional Institution, an extreme discipline section of the prison, Reuters reports Thursday:

Until now, Cohen had been housed in a minimum-security camp at Otisville, which is about 70 miles (110 km) northwest of New York City. One of the sources said Cohen was placed in solitary after another inmate complained about his internet use.

“It is my understanding that a verbal dispute over phone use prompted a temporary placement to SHU pending an investigation. I do not however know who prompted the altercation, or if the action taken was factually/ regulatory appropriate,” Cohen’s lawyer, Roger Adler, said in an email to Reuters.

A former representative for Cohen, Lanny Davis, declined to comment. The Federal Bureau of Prisons said it could not comment on the circumstances of individual inmates.

Cohen, who once said he would “take a bullet” for Trump, was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 for directing hush payments to pornographic film star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claimed they had affairs with Trump. Trump has denied having the encounters.

Last month, Cohen asked to be released from prison early, citing the coronavirus outbreak and the high risk in prison of contracting COVID-19. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/09/trumps-former-lawyer-michael.html

I regret to inform you that impeached and clearly nuts U.S. president Donald Trump is at it again. There's a pandemic on, but that won't stop his flamboyant abuse.

Here is his latest, from late in the afternoon on Thursday, White House time.

The Wall Street Journal always “forgets” to mention that the ratings for the White House Press Briefings are “through the roof” (Monday Night Football, Bachelor Finale, according to @nytimes ) & is only way for me to escape the Fake News & get my views across. WSJ is Fake News!

What is there to say?

God help us. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/09/trump-insults-wsj-as-fake-ne.html

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/09/rona-alignment-chart.html

Boris Johnson is out of intensive care and recovering, reports the BBC, after his close shave with Covid-19. The British Prime Minister made a point of defying medical advice in the early stages of the pandemic, shaking hands and promoting a "carry on" attitude to the deadly virus, and almost paid for it with his life. Yesterday, 881 people died in Britain of the disease, bringing the nation's death toll to nearly 8,000.

No 10 said he "has been moved this evening from intensive care back to the ward, where he will receive close monitoring during the early phase of his recovery".

A spokesman added: "He is in extremely good spirits."

He was taken to hospital on Sunday - 10 days after testing positive - and was moved to intensive care on Monday.

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/09/bojo-out-of-intensive-care.html

I frequently refer to my copy of Robots! Draw Your Own Androids, Cyborgs & Fighting Bots, by well known animation designer and comic book cartoonist Jay Stephens. It's only 64 pages, but it's packed with tips and examples of whimsical robots, with lots of examples of limbs, bodies, heads, control panels, sensors, etc.

Stephens has two similar books: Monsters!: Draw Your Own Mutants, Freaks & Creeps and Heroes!: Draw Your Own Superheroes, Gadget Geeks & Other Do-Gooders. I have all three. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/09/how-to-draw-robots.html

The Kinkade Family Foundation turned up this Thomas Kincade unseen masterpiece "Untitled (Toilet Paper)," c. 1978, oil on canvas, 8" x 10, and have issued it as a puzzle and print. The proceeds benefit the New Art Dealers Alliance's (NADA) fund to support galleries impacted by COVID-19.

The canvas print is $150.00 unframed and $750 framed. The 100-piece puzzle is $45.00.

Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/09/thomas-kinkade-painting-of-toi.html

This is one excited sun conure. Watch as she almost blurs while grooming her beak on this man's "quarantine stubble." Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/09/watch-this-bird-perform-the-mo.html

This vintage clip of the great Desmond Dekker (1941-2006) performing "Israelites" to a live audience including delightfully dancing mods girls is one minute and 20 seconds of pure infectious joy. Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/09/wonderful-vintage-clip-of-mod.html

Last week David posted about the Aquarium Drunkard music stream and I quickly signed up on Patreon. I also listen to Chilled Cow, a streaming lofi hip hop radio show on YouTube. Those two streams are enough to keep me happy throughout the day, but I just came across another awesome stream: Hollow Earth Radio. Based in Seattle, it's a Low Power FM (LPFM) non-commercial DIY radio station featuring "local music, found sound, paranormal encounters, crank calls, dreams, etc! 24 hours a day!" I need three brains so I can listen to all three at once.

Image: Twitter/Hollow Earth Radio Read the rest

https://boingboing.net/2020/04/09/hollow-earth-radio-local-mu.html